
Class 

Book 

GopyrigM 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 



F 



JAMES KIMBLE VARDAMAN 




BY 
A. S. COODY. 









i \. 



J 



I 




Senator Jas. K. Vardaman 
(1918) 



. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 



OF 



JAMES KIMBLE VARDAMAN 



BY 
A. S. COODY. 




A. S. COODY, Publisher, 

Jackson, Miss. 

MCMXXII 







Copyright 1922 by 
A. S. COODY. 



)GI.A1*>77307 



M 26 1322 



Dedicated to 

The memory of the late 

DR. B. F. WARD 

Who embodied in his life and character all the qualities of 

the ideal man. 



"Dost thou look back on what hath been 
As some divinely gifted man, 
Whose life in low estate began 
And on a simple village green; 

"Who breaks his birth's invidious bar, 

And grasps the skirts of happy chance, 
And breasts the blows of circumstance, 

And grapples wuh his evil star, 

"Who makes by force his merit known 
And lives to clutch the golden keys, 
To mould a mighty state's decrees, 

And shape the whisper of the throne; 

"And moving up from high to higher, 

Becomes on Fortune's crowning slope 
The pillar of a people's hope, 

The center of a world's desire." 



The author makes grateful acknowledgement to 

HON. ROBERT S. PHIFER 

for reading sections of the manuscript and making sugges- 
tions and corrections, and for especially valuable assistance 
in preparing the Chapter on the Espionage Laws. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The subject matter of these sketches was prepared 
for an address which I made before the Vardaman Club 
of Jackson, Mississippi, in September, 1921. This address 
met with such approval that at the request of many of 
those present I have reduced it to writing, as nearly as 
memory permits, with such additions ,as I have deemed 
interesting. 

The purpose in publishing this booklet is not political; 
neither is the purpose to enter into any controversy with 
any individual, nor to say anything or refer to anything 
derogatory to the character or reputation of any other 
person. If, incidentally, facts are recited which reflect in 
any way upon any other person, it is done not with the in- 
tention of injuring such person, but merely for the purpose 
of stating such facts as are deemed necessary for the pur- 
pose of this story. What is here set down is for Senator 
Vardaman's friends, and not for his enemies; or to refute 
their arguments. 

The purpose is to give a word picture of the public 
career of James K. Vardaman, and, in a lesser sense, an 
outline of the political happenings during the period that 
he has served the people of Mississippi in an official way. 

This is intended to be a simple narrative. I have 
found that many of Senator Vardaman's best friends are 
in error in regard to many of the simple facts of his life. 
For instance, many reasons have been assigned for his 
wearing hair longer than does the average male citizen of 
today. None of the reasons assigned are true, because 
there is no reason except a matter of personal choice, sug- 



— 5— 

gested, perhaps, by the fact that men like Senator George, 
Walthall and many others during the period of Vardaman's 
young manhood, wore their hair in much the fashion that 
his is worn today. 

It has been frequently asserted that Vardaman was 
left an orphan at a very early age, and that all of his boy- 
hood and young manhood were devoted to the support of a 
widowed mother and a number of small brothers and sisters. 
As a matter of fact, Vardaman's father lived until after his 
(Vardaman's) marriage. 

Many of his friends are under the impression that Sen- 
ator Vardaman's right arm was injured in the shooting af- 
fair at Greenwood (reference to which is made hereafter). 
The fact is that this arm was injured in an accident during 
Vardaman's boyhood, while he was engaged in operating a 
corai sheller. Vardaman was entirely uninjured in the 
shooting affair at Greenwood, although a bullet or two pass- 
ed through his clothing. 

A great many of his friends are also under a misappre- 
hension as to his views on the race question. Many «of them 
merely think that Vardaman has played good politics in his 
discussion of the negro question. As a matter of fact, 
Vardaman is more in earnest, if such be possible, m his ad- 
vocacy of certain measures in regard to the race question 
than upon any other matter that he has presented to the 
people of Mississippi. He has read everything available 
upon this subject, political, historical and scientific. He is 
an authority upon matters of race, and his publicly stated 
views are but a brief statement of the sentiments that he 
sincerely entertains on this great question. 

In a general way, there are two classes of men. They 
may be classified as, first, those men who look upon other 
men for what may be gotten out of them ; and the second, 



— 9— 

and much smaller, class consisting of those men who look 
upon their fellow men with the purpose of doing something 
for them. 

As an illustration of this latter class let us take the late 
Dr. B. F. Ward, of Winona. His life and character are 
familiar to many of the people of Mississippi. One of the 
last instances in his life will serve the purpose. When Dr. 
Ward was dying, seme of his friends and relatives were 
gathered in his room. Although so weak he could not 
speak above a whisper, he noticed that all of his friends in 
the room were standing, and he said to his daughter, who 
was holding his hand, "Tell them to sit down." These were 
his last words on earth. This sublime character, in the 
last moments of life, was thinking not cf himself, not of 
that world to which he was going, but thinking, as he had 
thought all his life, of others. 

In every age and in every country there have been a 
few men who have stood out above their fellows as the 
mountain peaks of the race. They have been gifted with 
qualities that their fellows did not possess, whether "di- 
vinely gifted" dees not matter. The history of these few 
men will be practically the history of the world. To write 
adequately the story of Pericles would be to write of the 
golden age of Greece; to write of Ceasar would be to tell 
the story of Rome during the period of his public service. 

And it is always true that such men as these have their 
rlevoted friends and bitter enemies. To borrow a thought 
from Dr. Ward, there are three ways of destroying the 
great leaders of the people. The first is by the use of such 
arguments and the advancement of such facts as are 1 ossi- 
ble. When this method fails, resort is had to misrepre- 
sentation and abuse, and the interjection of false issues. 

This second method has been very assiduously follow- 
ed in the case of James K. Vardaman. My first recollec- 



—lO- 
tion of Vardaman is of a man misrepresenting to me his 
purposes. 

When I was but a boy, I recall that with a number of 
men I was working in the woods, engaged in the everyday 
business of making staves. This opponent of Vard'aman's 
hunted us up and gave each of us a circular setting forth 
with some ability the demerits of Vardaman, who was then 
a candidate for Governor. He also informed us that Var- 
daman was intensely hostile to the negroes of Mississippi, 
and that his purpose was to run them out of the State, or 
kill them, and that if he was elected Governor, the result of 
his election would be that all of the negroes in Mississippi 
would go elsewhere. A consummation very devoutly to be 
wished. 

The third and last method of getting rid of embarrass- 
ing reformers and militant leaders of the people is by 
assassination. Christ was crucified; Socrates was given 
the poison hemlock, ostensibly for discussing too freely the 
amorous Gods of Greece, but in reality because he was 
teaching the young men cf Athens too much common sev.se 
and democracy; and' the great Roman leader Caesar was 
assassinated, as were Tiberius and Caius Gracchus. How- 
ever, this method is now obsolete, and is no longer practiced 
by the best people. 

In the preparation of these sketches, I have examined 
a great many public documents and records, as well as 
many documents of my own. I have carefully checked 
these, and have verified my own conclusions by conferring 
with a number of prominent men in public life, as to the 
accuracy of the statements made. I therefore feel certain 
that every statement of fact with reference to the life and 
public services of Senator Vardaman is correct. 

In the ibest written histories there are frequently er- 
rors. If any are found in this booklet, I assure the reader 
that they are unintentional, and if the reader will call my 



—11— 

attention to the error, with proper proof, correction will be 
made, and acknowledgement gratefully rendered. 

No attempt is made to cover all the events in Senator 
Vardaman's life or even his public career. To do so, and deal 
with all the things that have happened would require sev- 
eral good sized volumes. It is my purpose to write a 
larger book, when the partisan differences have abated, and 
the passions engendered by political conflict have been 
softened and subdued by the recollections of happy achieve- 
ment. I will, therefore, appreciate the receipt of any in- 
teresting fact, or circumstance in connection with the life 
or career of Senator Vardaman. 

For the sake of the critics, I here confess to many er- 
rors of syntax, rhetoric, and all rules of composition. I 
have attempted only to make myself understood, and if I 
have accomplished this, I have no complaint to register. 

A. S. C. 



CHAPTER I. 
His Early Life; Training; and Work as Editor. 

What constitutes a state? 
Not high-raised battlement or laboured mound, 

Thick wall or 1 moated gate, 
Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned; 

Not bays and broad-armed ports 
Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride 

No: — men, high-minded men, 
With powers as far above dull brutes endued 

In forest, brake, or den 
As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude; 

Men who their duties know, 
But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain 

Prevent the long-aimed blow, 
And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain; 

These constitute a state. 

— Sir William Jo~es. 

3 AMES KIMBLE VARDAMAN was born in Jacks:n 
County, Texas, on July 26th, 1861, near the spot now 
occupied by the city of Edna, which is the County site 
of Jackson County. His mother was Miss Mollie Fox, who 
was born in Huntsville, Alabama. His father was William 
Sylvester Vardaman, who was born in Copiah County, Mis- 
sissippi. 

His parents were married at Carrollton, Mississippi, 
and lived in Holmes County, Mississippi, for a number of 
years, near the line between Carroll and Holmes Counties. 

In 1858 Vardaman's father, with his family, moved to 
Jackson County, Texas, and purchased a plantation on the 
Navidad River. He was not able to pay all of the pur- 



—14— 

chase price for this plantation, and equip it with the neces- 
sary implements and purchase sufficient slaves to cultivate 
it. This fact will account for the loss of the place at the 
close of the war between the States. 

Six children were born to Vardaman's parents, two 
girls and four boys. At the outbreak of the war, Varda- 
man's father entered the Confederate army, and served 
under General Ross for four years. 

Returning at the close of the war, he found his prop- 
erty dissipated and his slaves freed, and owing a large sum 
as the balance on his lands. In this situation, he packed a 
few belongings into a wagon and with his family returned 
to Mississippi, in 1868. The first year he spent in Yalo- 
busha County, near what is now known as Torrance. The 
next year he lived near Garner's Station, now known as 
Scobey. Here the six Vardaman children were reared and 
given such little education as the County schools afforded, 
Vardaman's only schooling was obtained in a small log 
schoolhouse located near what is now known as Tillatoba. 

At a very early age young James was filled with an am- 
bition to be a lawyer, and subsequently a politician. The 
story is told that when he was about eight years of age it 
was decided that it was necessary to remove his tonsils. In 
those days competent surgeons and anaesthetics were very 
rare. Young James was induced to submit peaceably to 
the operation by being positively told that unless he did he 
would never be able to be a speaker, and become a lawyer. 

When he was about eighteen years of age his father 
agreed that whatever he made in farming would be his and 
could be used by him in obtaining an education. Young 
James started in to make a crop, but later along in the 
year, when the sun grew hot, he was impressed with the 
idea that this was too slow a method of reaping a fortune. 



—15— 

He proceeded to make his father a present of his horse and 
the growing crop, and went into the manufacture of cross 
ties, with an equipment of three axes and two negro assist- 
ants. 

When the cross ties had been made, he purchased an ox 
wagon and some oxen, and himself hauled the ties to the 
railroad at Garner's Station. During this time he contin- 
ued the study of law. He would load the wagon with the 
cross ties, put the oxen in the road, and read until he reach- 
ed the end of the journey. He would then unload the ties, 
start the oxen on their way, and read on the way back to 
the woods. 

When this venture had been completed, and with a 
fortune of something less than two hundred dollars, he went 
to Carrollton and lived for a time with his uncle, Major 
Pearson Money, the father of United States Senator Money. 

Major Money had a very fine library, of books then in 
common use, consisting principally of the classics. Varda- 
man's cousin, William Vardaman Money, was a very highly 
educated young man, and it was through association with 
him and under his instruction that much of Vardaman's 
education was obtained. During this time he was assidu- 
ously engaged in the study of law in the offices of Helm and 
Somerville, at Carrollton. 

In those days, applicants for license to practice law 
were examined orally in open court. The Bar at that time 
was wont to travel around with the Court, from County to 
County, and represent such clients as stood in need of their 
services. When Vardaman applied for license the Judge 
invited all of the members of the bar present to conduct the 
examination. Among those present were Judge T. H, 
Somerville and Judge William C. McLean, of Grenada. 
Judge McLean was a classical scholar and possessed a very 



—16— 

profound knowledge of the law books of Blackstone and 
other learned writers. He prided himself upon his knowl- 
edge of the common law. We can imagine the scene of a 
raw country boy, possessing small literary education and no 
great knowledge of the law, subjected on a broiling July 
afternoon to a gruelling examination at the hands of this 
dignified and scholarly Judge. As one of the spectators 
afterwards remarked, the Judge evidently desired to dem- 
onstrate his knowledge of the law and the ignorance of the 
applicant, and eminently succeeded in doing both. 

The examination continued until the lamps had to be 
lighted, and the subject of Blackstone, Coke on Littleton, 
and other books of like character had been, exhausted. But 
at last the ordeal was over and Vardaman was given license 
to practice law. 

The Judge requested him to write out the license, in 
order that he might sign it, but this was a subject that the 
student had not mastered, and his prayer that he be allow- 
ed until morning to prepare the license was readily granted. 

Vardaman then moved to Winona and there began his 
acquaintance with the late Dr. B. F. Ward, who continued to 
be Vardaman's friend, devoted and unchanging, from that 
time until the hour of his death. It is doubtless due large- 
ly to the teachings of Dr. Ward that the Vardaman of today 
has been developed. 

A characteristic incident in the financial career cf 
Vardaman was one which occurred the day after his arrival 
in Winona. He had secured an office and paid for the 
hauling of his books. After completing the task of arrang- 
ing his books, etc., he opened the door for business in pos- 
session of a cash capital of fifty cents. 

He walked down on the streets, and met a man carry- 
ing a petition in behalf of another whose house had been 
burned. Vardaman very gravely subscribed and paid the 



—17- 



sum of fifty cents, and began his career as an attorney, 
penniless. 




In(l884 vardaman married Mrs. Anna Robinson, a 
widow. "While in Winona he achieved the average success 
of a young lawyer of that period, and during idle times 
edited a newspaper, the "Winona Advance." After a num- 
ber of years he moved to Greenwood and began the practice 
of law, also editing the "Greenwood Enterprise." He aft- 
erwards sold this paper and established the "Greenwood 
Commonwealth." He was elected to the legislature in 
1890, and again in 1892, serving in all, six years. In the 
middle of his second term he was unanimously elected 
Speaker of the House of Representatives, and mac! one of 
the most popular Speakers that body ever had. 

While editing his paper at Greenwood, Vardaman be- 
gan writing on the race question, and gained a statewide 
reputation from the vigorous expression of his views upon 
this and other questions of that period. During these years 
the great national question was the controversy between the 
Democratic party and the Peoples party. In this contest 
Vardaman spoke in many parts of the State in behalf of 
the Democratic candidates, and won the very cordial dis- 
like cf the Peoples Party leaders. But in after years prac- 
tically all of these leaders, upon the demise of the Populist 
party, became the warm friends of Vardaman. 

During the time he was the editor of the "Common- 
wealth," Vardaman began the advocacy of prohibition. A 
prohibitionist at that time wasi about as popular in LeFlore 
County as a Bolshevist would be in Wall Street. A great 
deal of feeling was aroused on all sides, and a plot was con- 
cocted to assassinate Vardaman. This was discovered by 
Dr. C. N. D. Campbell, of Greenwood, who is now County 
Health Officer of LeFlore County. He went to Vardaman 
and warned him of the plot, enabling him to prepare him- 



— 18 — 

self, so that when the shooting began Vardaman escaped 
uninjured, and one of the other contestants was killed. 

' One reason for the report that Vardaman was injured 
in this affair was the fact that his cousin, Colonel James 
D. Money, was wounded. When the shooting ended, Var- 
daman asked his cousin if he had been hit, the reply of 
Colonel Money was, "Yes, I am hit in the leg, and if it 
hadn't been for that fellow's leg I would have gotten him," 
meaning that the fellow had run away so fast that he es- 
caped injury. 

Vardaman made two campaigns for Governor before 
he was elected. His first campaign was in 1899, and the 
second in 1903. The first campaign was made under the 
old convention system, and naturally resulted in his defeat. 

At the outbreak of the Spanish- American War, Var- 
daman volunteered his services and organized a company. 
This was tendered to Governor McLaurin to be mustered 
in. The Governor disliked Vardaman and availing him- 
self of the excuse that Vardaman possessed an injured right 
arm, refused to issue a commission to him. His company 
thereupon decided to withdraw from the service, but Var- 
daman prevailed upon them to go ahead and do their duty 
to their country. He returned home and was offered and 
accepted a commission as Captain in the 5th U. S. V. I. 
known as the Immune Regiments, and after reaching Cuba 
was commissioned a Major. 

While in Cuba the campaign of 1899 for Governor was 
under way, and Vardaman requested that he be discharged 
so that he might return home and enter the campaign. 
Members of his company, however, reminded him of his 
promise that he would stay with them until they got back 
heme, and thereupon he withdrew his request and remain- 
ed with the company until it was finally mustered out. 



—19— 

He then returned to Mississippi and entered into the 
campaign for Governor a few weeks before its close. At 
that time it was optional with the Counties as to whether 
they held a primary or elected their delegates by the con- 
vention system. Vardaman visited those counties where 
an election was to be held, and carried every county in 
which he made a speech. But of course, he could not, and 
never has been able to carry or control a convention, and 
was defeated for the nomination. 

For a number of years Vardaman and his friends had 
been denouncing the convention system, and demanding the 
right of the white electors of Mississippi to name their pub- 
lic officials. The result of this agitation was the passage 
of the primary election law, which provided for a State- 
wide primary for the election of all State officials, from 
constable to Governor. 

Vardaman entered the gubernatorial campaign in 1903, 
having as his opponents Honorable Frank A. Critz of West 
Point, and Honorable E. F. Noel, of Lexington. Noel was 
the low man in the first primary, and Vardaman the lead- 
ing man. 

Many of Vardaman's friends felt that his race against 
Critz in the second primary was a hopeless one, because 
they believed that the friends of Noel were anti- Vardaman 
and would vote solidly for Critz, but when the second pri- 
mary was over it was found that Vardaman had increased 
his lead over Judge Critz and was nominated as the Demo- 
cratic candidate for Governor, and was elected in the fol- 
lowing November elections. 



CHAPTER II. 
As Governor of Mississippi. 

"He makes no friend who never made a foe." 

— Tennyson. 

tti T has been frequently asserted that Vardaman was the 
i| only Governor to be elected without opposition. This 
grew out of the fact that at the general election in 
November, 1903, no other party put out a candidate. Since 
that time the Socialist party has placed a candidate's name 
en the ticket. 

It is a well known fact that Vardaman possesses more 
loyal and devoted friends, and more bitter and implacable 
enemies than any other public man in Mississippi. This is 
raturally true when we consider that Vardaman is a man 
of very positive convictions, and bold and aggressive in 
'■his advocacy of the measures in which he believes. He is 
apparently incapable of restraining himself when possessed 
by an idea. He aptly illustrates the words of Heine, 
where he says, "We do not take possession of our ideas, but 
are possessed by them. They master us and force us into 
the arena, where, like gladiators, we must fight for them." 

However, many of the enemies of Vardaman are not 
political, but think they have a personal reason for their 
dislike. When he began the advocacy of prohibition, and 
continued in the fight as editor, legislator, governor and 
United States Senator, those persons who were making a 
profit from the sale of liquor naturally felt unkindly to- 
wards the 'man who was vigorously opposing their business, 



-21- 



ancl who, with the help of thousands of others, succeeded in 
putting them out of business not only in LeFlcre County, 
and Mississippi, but throughout the Nation. 

Also, Vardaman was really the leader in the abolition 
of convention politics in Mississippi, and those gentlemen 
who controlled conventions, named officials, and profited 
from the government cf this State, naturally resented any 
interference with the system which they knew so well how 
to operate to their political and financial advantage and 
profit. 

Although the Constitution of 1890 forbade the prac- 
tice, the foundation for a number of fortunes in Mississippi 
has been made through the leasing of convicts. Governor 
Vardaman broke up this practice and put the convicts on 
the State's lands, so that private individuals no longer 
profited from their labor. This naturally offended a num- 
ber of prominent and influential citizens. 

As Governor, Vardaman defeated the so-called corpora- 
tion land holding bill, and thereby incurred the displeasure 
of the great landlords of the State. As Senator, his first 
act of any prominence was to secure the raising of the tax 
rate on large incomes from three to seven per cent. Nat- 
urally; those persons fortunate enough to possess an annual 
income of a million or more dollars did not feel kindly to the 
man who made them give seven per cent instead of three to 
their government. 

These, and other things of like nature, are the things 
that account for ninety per cent of the enemies that Var- 
daman has made. 

As Governor of Mississippi, Vardaman probably ren- 
dered his greatest service to the people of Mississippi. 
Many of the reforms which have been accomplished in the 



_22— 

years since his term expired, are those advocated by him as 
Governor, and the foundation laid for their final enactment 
into law. 

Vardaman was inaugurated in 1904, while Roosevelt 
was serving as President, and in the year in which R^ope- 
velt was elected for the second term. We had just won the 
Spanish-American war some five years previous to his elec- 
tion, and the prosperity which appeared after that war was 
just beginning to be felt generally throughout the nation. 

The campaign against imperialism and foreign expan- 
sion had been fought and lost by the hosts of Democracy 
under the leadership of Mr. Bryan. It was the clay of 
''Dollar Diplomacy." It was a period when the people 
who had risen up since the reconstruction period were tak- 
ing charge of public affairs. Everywhere there was a 
breaking away from the traditions of the past, and meas- 
ures were being enacted which placed more power into the 
hands of the people. 

In every country and among all peoples there are 
periods when progress seems to sleep ; there are times when 
the tide of humanity must halt and rally its belated mem- 
bers. After such a period, it thrusts forward to new vic- 
tories, and we see that progress has been growing even 
while we thought it slept. 

Vardaman was the first Governor to be elected by the 
entire qualified white electorate of Mississippi. He came 
into office unhampered by pledges to leaders of cliques or 
rings, and without the domination of a few powerful poli- 
ticians who hitherto had controlled the all important con- 
ventions. In other words, Vardaman held his commission 
from the people of the State of Mississippi, and was free to 
be their leader and hold himself aloof from, and independ- 
ent of, politicans and wire pullers. Since political de- 



—23— 

velopment had been held in check for so many years by the 
convention system of politics, the thought of the State was 
now ready to move forward very rapidly. 

It was, therefore, no difficult matter for Vardaman, as 
Governor, and the accredited leader of the people, to 
carry through many of the progressive measures which he 
advocated, despite the fact that he was confronted by a par- 
tisan and politically hostile legislature. 

The general outstanding feature of Vardaman's ad- 
ministration was its freedom from dictation and influence 
by political leaders. Public opinion was free to express 
itself, and Vardaman both influenced and was influenced by 
this cpinion. 

The penitentiary was cleared of graft and the system 
of handling the convicts reversed. The eleemosynary in- 
stitutions generally were placed upon a higher plane and 
entered upom an era of splendid usefulness. The public 
school system was greatly encouraged and the beginning of 
the wonderful progress of the past fifteen years, was made. 
The judiciary was placed upon a much higher plane, and the 
judges were no longer made to feel that their commissions 
were given them by the men who could control conventions. 

As an illustration of this, Judge Stevens, who was the 
son-in-law of Governor McLaurin, was a circuit ju'dge. At 
the expiration of his term he was not an applicant for the 
office, but, much to "his surprise, was reappointed by Gov- 
ernor Vardaman. He attempted to thank the Governor 
for the appointment, but was told that he owed no thanks 
to the Governor, but rather to the people of his district who 
by letters and petitions had asked that he be reappointed. 

The penitentiary of Mississippi was at that time under 
the management of a Board of Control, consisting of the 



—24— 

Governor, the Attorney General, and the three Railroad 
Commissioners. The actual management of the peniten- 
tiary was placed in the hands of a warden, who was elected 
by the Board of Control. Since all the members of the 
Board of Control had other duties to perform, they gave 
very little time or attention to the management of the peni- 
tentiary. 

All five of these members, previous to this time, had 
been nominated in conventions, and their political fortunes 
were in the hands of a few men who controlled the State 
Convention. As a result of this, the penitentiary ''was 
spoils which went to the victor. 

The Constitution of 1890 positively forbade the work- 
ing of convicts on other than State lands, and forbade their 
being leased for any purpose after the year 1894. (Section 
223). The Legislature enacted a statute putting this sec- 
tion of the Constitution into effect, (Sec. 3610 Code 1906 
and Ch. 137 L. 1906), yet despite this provision of the Con- 
stitution and the plain statute, the convicts had been leased 
to a number of large land owners in the Delta. 

The State owned Parchman Farm, of something more 
than five thousand acres, the larger part of which was lying 
idle and put to no use whatsoever. The farms at Rankin 
and Oakley were largely used as distributing points for 
supplies which were gratuitously given to the political fav- 
orites of the members of the Board of Control. 

An investigation made during the administration of 
Vardaman showed that the State Penitentiary purchased 
whiskey by the barrel, and the records of the Express Com- 
pany showed that this was shipped away from the State 
Farms to private persons all over the State of Mississippi. 
Supplies and products of every kind were treated in much 
the same manner. 



—25— 

Despite this wholesale graft and habitual stealing, the 
worst feature of the penitentiary system was the treatment 
accorded the helpless inmates. The penitentiary of Missis- 
sippi was at that time a typical sixteenth century prison 
hell. Mail was distributed to the prisoners only about 
twice a month; books and newspapers were not allowed; 
there was no chaplain and no religious services of any kind. 
The prisoners were not permitted to eat with knives and 
forks, or even to eat at a table. Sanitary conditions were 
horrible beyond description. Sleeping quarters were ill 
ventilated and infested with vermin. The only method of 
control was through the use of force and corporal punish- 
ment. Under such a system, the convicts were not made 
better, but were released from the penitentiary much worse 
mentally, morally and physically. 

The Board of Control had been evading the Constitu- 
tion in regard to the leasing of convicts by a peculiar and 
adroitly worded contract. The State would agree on its 
part to furnish a given number of able bodied convicts and 
the necessary, guards ; the landlord would agree on his part 
to feed the convicts, care for them, and to pay the State a 
certain percentage of the crop which was grown. The con- 
tract provided that in any event the compensation of the 
State should not be less than a certain number of bales of 
cotton. The State rarely received anything in excess of 
this minimum portion. For an excoriation of this con- 
tract, see Chief Justice Whitfield's dissenting opinion in the 
Sandy Bayou case, which will be found in Vol. 87 Mississip- 
pi Reports, page 79. See also 87 Miss., 1 ; 88 Miss., 843. 

During Vardaman's administration, the renewal of the 
lease with H. J. McLaurin was brought before the Board. 
Despite the protest of the Governor, the lease was entered 
into by the Board. Vardaman then employed counsel and 
had suit brought to prevent the carrying out of this con- 
tract. This suit was tried before Chancellor R. B. Mayes, 



—26— 

who decided in favor of the governor's contention. An 
appeal was prosecuted to the Supreme Court, consisting at 
that time of three judges. The decision of the Chancellor 
was reversed, and the contract was ratified. 

A second action was brought by the Governor, and 
before this case reached the Supreme Court Mr. Justice 
Truly resigned and another judge was appointed to take 
his place. When the case reached the Supreme Court it 
was finally decided in favor of the State, and the convict 
leasing system forever abolished in the State of Mississippi. 
Following the urgent recommendation of the Governor, and 
urged on by an aroused public sentiment, the Legislature 
enacted the law creating the present system of pententiary 
management, which consists of three trustees elected by the 
people, and a Superintendent appointed by the Governor. 
Under this system, the convicts are now treated and govern- 
ed in such a way that they are made better instead of worse. 
In this limited space a story of the penitentiary system can- 
not be written. There is however, herewith appended a part 
of the message of Governor Vardaman to the Legislature of 
1906: 

THE PENITENTIARY. 

"In my inaugural address delivered before the joint ses- 
sion, of the Legislature of Mississippi, January 19, 1904, dis- 
cussing the penitentiary management, I recommended the 
abolition of the Board of Control, and substituting therefor 
a department of the State Government to be under the direc- 
tion and control of one capable man, selected as the Legis- 
lature may provide, whose duty it shall be to direct and su- 
pervise the working of the convicts as the law may prescribe.' 
The reasons then urged for the proposed change in the pen- 
itentiary management, are equally cogent now, and applicable 
to present conditions. I said, "The disadvantages of the 
present system are, that the responsibilities are divided 
among five men whose other official duties, if properly per- 
formed, will consume all of their time. It presents a case 
wherq no one man is responsible for the acts of five.' An- 
other reason: 'The duties of the office of the superintend- 



—27— 

ent of the penitentiary call for special qualifications and 
training, which the Governor, Attorney-General and mem- 
bers of the Railroad Commission may not possess — in fact, 
they do not possess. Where something is to be done, my 
observation is, that boards are awkward, slow, inefficient. 
One responsible, capable head is worth more than a dozen 
Boards of Control. After two years of earnest, sincere and 
patriotic service to the State, as a member of the Board of 
Control, I am thoroughly convinced that the interest of the 
public service demands a change in the penitentiary manage- 
ment; and I am also convinced that if the recommendations 
made by me two years ago had been adopted it would have 
redounded to the pecuniary interest of the State, and of the 
moral and physical well being of the convicts. While the 
State has realized a very considerable revenue from the work 
of the convicts, it has also contributed a very large revenue 
—the products of the convicts' toil — to swell the fortunes of 
favored private individuals. It is an easy matter to make 
money planting cotton in the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta when 
you own the labor, pay no taxes or interest, and the products 
sell for a good price. 

"The business methods of the Board of Control is illus- 
trated by one or two acts, which I shall mention. In Sep- 
tember, 1903, the Board of Control had under its manage- 
ment about twenty thousand acres of land belonging to the 
State. On the Parchman Place, in Sunflower County, there 
were about five thousand acres open or cleared, with eight 
thousand acres to be cleared. This cleared land originally, 
like the uncleared land, was heavily timbered with the finest 
oak, ash and gum timber, the greater portion of which was 
deadened and permitted to rot on the land. The timber 
alone was worth as much as the land originally cost the 
State, if it had been cut and marketed by the convicts, in- 
stead of working them on the land of private individuals. 
There were twelve hundred acres of cleared land on the Bel- 
mont place; six or eight hundred acres more of splendid land 
on that farm to be cleared; and fifteen hundred acres of 
cleared land on the Oakley place, the greater portion of the 
latter being leased to the people around in the neighborhood, 
for one and two dollars per acre. 

"With all of this land cleared and to be cleared, improve- 
ments to be made, ditches to be dug, and houses to be built, 



—28— 

we find the Board of Control contracting with a State Sen- 
ator to work his Delta plantation on shares. We find the 
Board of Control contracting' with a member of the Legisla- 
ture to work his plantation on shares. We find the Board 
of Conti'ol contracting with the nephew of the then Presi- 
dent of the Board of Control for a plantation belonging to his 
nephew, for which the Board of Control paid six dollars per 
acre, twelve months in advance. We find the Board of Con- 
trol, at the same time, contracting with two other distin- 
guished gentlemen, prominent in politics, for their Delta 
plantations to be worked on shares. The Board of Con- 
trol made money after giving half of the products of the 
convicts' toil to these private individuals thus contracted 
with but it was money coined out of the blood and tears of 
the unfortunate convicts. It was money made in a way 
which every sense of humanity revolts at. It involved the 
violation of the law and the betrayal of a sacred trust. But, 
if money making were the sole aim and end of the peniten- 
tiary, the leasing of the lands of private individuals was a 
mistake. If the State can make money working a private 
individual's land and giving that private individual half of 
the products of the convict's toil, I cannot understand why it 
cannot make more money working its own land and keeping 
the entire products of the convicts' toil. If all the convicts 
had been concentrated and worked upon the State's land in 
1903, and a capable officer had been placed in charge of the 
penitentiary, every acre of the State's land susceptible of 
cultivation would now be cleared and capable of yielding 
annually six or eight thousand bales of cotton and ample corn 
and food products to maintain the convicts and live stock. 

"In December 1904 the present Board of Control made 
some very commendable reforms, as far as it went. All 
plantations belonging to private persons were discarded, save 
only the one belonging to State Senator H. J. McLaurin, 
whose 'fertile land,' hypnotic power, political pull, and long 
enjoyment of a robust share of the revenues arising from 
convict labor, seems to have clothed him with the modern 
brand of divine right to the perpetuation of that special 
privilege. I hoped, however, that that was the last effort 
the Board of Control would make to lease the land of pri- 
vate individuals, or lease the convicts to private individuals, 
but in that I was disappointed. At the December meeting, 
1905, the Board undertook to enter into another contract 



—29— 

with State Senator H. J. McLaurin, which was so flagrant a 
violation of the law that I felt it to be my duty to appeal 
to the courts to prevent the execution of the contract. The 
Chancellor held the contract void and the case was appealed 
to the Supreme Court, where it is now pending. 

"In all essential respects, the prime purpose of the peni- 
tentiary has been overlooked by the Board of Control. In- 
stead of being conducted for the benefit of the criminals— 
a kind of moral hospital, where the moral cripples could be 
treated— the question of making money for the State and 
the favored few has been the end sought to be attained. The 
State of Mississippi cannot afford to profit by crime. It is 
an unprofitable industry, it matters not how much money the 
State may derive from it. The penitentiary should be self- 
sustaining. It is capable of being made a source of great 
revenue, but humanity demands that everything should be 
done by the management of the penitentiary which tends to 
correct the moral obloquy in the convict by improving his phy- 
sical and mental condition. There is no objection to making 
.money, unless it shall be done at the sacrifice of man. I am 
more interested in the salvation of men than I am in hording 
gold. If we could only understand that it is more difficult 
for some men to do right thanj for others to do wrong— that 
our acts are often the result of influences set in motion by 
the unconscious deeds of some forgotten ancestor, we would 
be more charitable in our judgment and more humane in our 
treatment of the poor fellow, who, burdened with the accu- 
mulated infirmities of others, falls by the wayside of life. 

"If the convict be a low-bred, vulgar creature, congeni- 
ally currupt, inured to physical and moral filth, brutal and 
inhuman treatment, so much greater the necessity that he 
should be given kindly treatment, a decent bed to sleep on, 
and sanitary surroundings in the penitentiary. He is there to 
be improved and not degraded. Let the light within his be- 
nighted brain be brightened, let this piece of humanity, "plun- 
dered, profaned, and disinherited," be made to feel that the 
State is his friend and is willing to correct, as far as it can, 
the "perfidious wrongs and immedicable woes" which brought 
him to the miserable thing he is. Man is the creature of 
heredity and environment, and the influence of the latter is 
more potential in the formation of character than the former. 
Therefore, the environment of the convict in the pententiary 



-30- 



should be so ordered and colored that the unfortunate indi- 
vidual would be better for having suffered imprisonment 
there. Punishment under our system is not inflicted in the 
spirit of revenge, but rather for correction — in love rather 
than hate. I believe the pententiary management should 
be authorized and empowered by the Legislature with large 
discretion, to use a portion of the products of the convicts 
toil, over and above the cost of conviction, keeping and main- 
taining him, for the use of his family, if they be needy and 
deserving, or if he has no family, or some one dependent up- 
on him, let it be reserved in the State treasury to be given to 
him when he shall have served out his term of sentence. 
If there is any doubt about the worthiness of the convict, or 
his ability to rightly appreciate this special favor, if the 
management in its wisdom think it wise to give it to him at 
all, let the money be disbursed under the direction of the 
Chancery Court of the county of the convict's residence. 

"No one knows, save those who have experienced it, 
how hard it is for a poor fellow, crushed and spiritless, to 
come out of the penitentiary, penniless, friendless and al- 
most hopeless, to get a start in the world. The brand is up- 
on him, and the back of the world's hand is against him, even 
God's Providence seems estranged; but if the State would only 
give this poor creature a portion of the money which he by 
his own labor had made during his term of imprisonment, it 
might give him hope— it might afford him an opportunity 
and stimulate him to go and try again to retrieve that which 
he had lost by his own indiscretion. It might be the means of 
giving him a start upward and of enabling him to become a 
useful citizen. Whereas, if left unaided by the State, the 
current of his own improper life might irresistably carry 
him back to the maelstrom of crime, and end his sad career 
in a felon's grave. 

"The State cannot afford to profit by crime, nor should 
the State permit a crime against her criminals. I am not a 
sentimentalist, nor do I hope for the realization of the Upto- 
pian dream of the idealist, but I do believe implicity and pro- 
foundly in the saving grace of common justice, and the re- 
forming power of love, acting through human agencies. It 
is the only power which can lift the staggering vagabond 
from the gutter, bring "back the upward looking and the 
light," paint upon the sin-stained wrinkled brow the rose of 



—31— 

health rerew the old-time courage of the soul, and make 
him stand erect, a man among his fellows; it is the only ray 
of light which breaks through the darkness of despair over- 
shadowing the fainting heart of the thief hanging upon the 
cross of his own misdoings, and gives assurance of the pos- 
sibility of a better life. 

"The Constitution of 1890, and all legislation since that 
time regarding ;he management of convicts, are permeated 
with the spirit of huma.ity, and tend to bringing about that 
condition which would place them beyond the cruelties incident 
to private control, but the Board of Control has evaded and. 
violated the spirit, if not the letter of the law, and defended 
its acts upon the ground of expediency or pecuniary profits. 
No man should be permitted to control or manage a convict 
who is not an upright, honorable, intelligent and just man. 
He should have some of the milk of human kindness in his 
soul, as well as love in his heart, and brains in his head. 
He should be just, courageous and impartial. It is no place 
for the cheap, dingy demagogue and political striker. Par- 
tisan' politics should be absolutely eleminated from the peni- 
tertiary management. As I look back over the past ten years 
of ;he history of the pente itiary management— and I have been 
a student and close observer of it-I fail to find a single 
instance wherein we have had a warden whose manifest 
purpose was not to serve himself, or a few partisan or 
political friends, rather than promote the physical and moral 
well-being of the convicts, and advance the pecuniary inter- 
est of the State. The predecessor of the present incumbent 
recommended the leasing of his friend's lands when he knew 
that the welfare of the convicts and the interests of the 
State demanded that the convicts be concentrated upon the 
State's property. The office has usually been given as a 
reward for political service rendered, and political service to 
be rendered. As long as that is possible the service will be 
defective and inefficient. 

"I say it with profound regret, but without fear of suc- 
cessful contradiction, that for many years the penitentiary has 
been the one festering sore upon the body politic— poisoned by 
the virus of private personal cupidity— the most corrupt and 
corrupting influence in State politics. Votes were controlled 
in conventions and nominations made with the sole end in 
view of leasing some political dictator's Delta plantation. 



—32— 

If you question that statement read the history of the peni- 
tentiary of Missisippi. I make no charge of personal dis- 
honesty. They may have been the victim of a nefarious 
system or policy of long standing — unconsciously carrying 
to a dangerous extreme the pernicious principles embodied 
in the old political apothegm of Andrew Jackson, that "to the 
victor belongs the spoil." Under the present Board, things 
are not so bad as they used to be, nor are they as good as 
they ought to be. 

"I call your attention to the report of Hon. W. Calvin 
Wells, Jr., with reference to certain atrocities perpetrated 
upon, a convict by the sergent of the Rankin fai'm, for 1904, 
elected by the old Board of Control in 1903. The act for 
which I employed Mr. Wells to prosecute this sergeant rivaled 
in brutality and fiendishness the atrocities of that wizard of 
woe, Torquemada. Whether or not justice will be dealt out 
to the culprit by the courts remains to be seen, but this one 
instance reveals the insufficiency of the law in this, that a 
crime of that character against a criminal is not punished 
under the law as it should be. I trust that you may see 
that the deficiency is supplied. 

"Another defect in the management which calls for reme- 
dy by the Legislature: While the law requires the physician 
of the pententiary to visit the convicts once a day, the Board 
of Control has selected as the surgeon for the Oakley place, 
where the convicts are confined, a physician who resides in 
the City of Jackson, twenty miles away from the hospital, 
who visits the hospital as it may suit his convenience (I am 
advised, about twice a week). This is another matter which 
calls for attention by the Legislature. It is a shameful dis- 
regard of the welfare of the unfortunate conviots who must 
take any or no doctor as the Board of Control may order. 

"The pententiary property has greatly enhanced in value. 
Including lands, live stock, farming implements etc., together 
with the labor of the convicts it represents now a capital in- 
vested of nearly two million dollars. To manage an enter- 
prise of that magnitude and at the same time do justice to 
the convicts calls for the highest order of intelligence, in- 
integrity and business capacity. The penitentiary farms 
should be the model farms of the State; they should be used 
to demonstrate upon a large scale the advantages to the 



—33— 

farmers of experiments made at the A. & M. College on a 
small scale. Scientific agriculture, tile draining, fertiliza- 
tion of soil, growth of plants should be the lessons taught 
upon the State's plantations. Intelligent direction with the 
absolute control of the labor, would make that easy of ac- 
complishment, and at the same time pecuniarily profitable to 
the State, and also instructive to the convict, which lessons 
would be of use to him in after life. 

"Every pound of meat, all the live stock— cattle, hogs, 
sheep, horses, mules etc.— needed to work the land and for 
food and other uses by the convicts should be raised on the 
farms. Under the present and former management most all 
of the live stock have been bought and the greater part of 
the meat, corn and meal have been purchased in the markets 
of the Northwest, while the work of the convicts has been de- 
voted to raising cotton in competition with our own free la- 
bor. You cannot hire a man to perform properly the 
duties of this place unless you pay them the value of their 
services. It would be a wise economy for the State to pay 
a capable man a salary of four thousand dollars a year, rather 
than to have an incompetent man at no salary at all. I think 
it would be wise for you to make a through investigation of 
all matters pertaining to the pententiary management, that 
you may correct all abuses and make such changes as your 
sense of duty may prompt." 

Prior to the election of Governor Vardaman, the old 
deaf and dumb school had been burned down. The Legis- 
lature authorized the Governor and Board of Trustees of 
this Institution to sell the lands belonging to it, which were 
located in the residential section of North Jackson. The 
highest bid which they could secure for the property was 
$60,000.00. Not satisfied with this, the Governor had the 
property surveyed, and auctioned off by lots. The net 
proceeds of the sale amounted to something in excess of 
$76,000.00. With this sum the present Deaf and Dumb 
Institution, located in West Jackson, was partially built. 
The next Legislature appropriated $75,000.00 to complete 
the work. The school was opened, and the education of 
the deaf and dumb was actually begun. They were taught 



—34— 

not only a trade by which they might earn a living, but are 
now being given a real education, and trained to undertake 
the common vocations of life. 

Under Governor Vardaman's administration the Blind 
Institute was also remodeled and a course of instruction 
provided whereby the blind were given an education. Prior' 
to this time the institution had been conducted primarily 
to give the inmates training for some kind of a trade. Un- 
der the new system the blind are given an education, taught 
music, and the other things which are possible to the blind. 

One of Vardaman's friends expressed his reform of 
the State Insane Asylum by saying that "he found it a mad 
house and converted it into an Institution for the treat- 
ment of those mentally sick." Certain it is that the lunatic 
asylum had been looked upon as a place where the mentally 
afflicted were taken and simply confined. Acting upon 
the advice cf the wise old Dr. Ward, Governor Vardaman 
induced the Board of Trustees and the management to 
undertake the scientific treatment of the mentally afflicted. 
As a result of this beginning, the Insane Hospital today 
releases as cured in excess of forty per cent of those com- 
mitted to it. Governor Vardaman induced the Board of 
Trustees to have built around the old asylum a series of 
balconies and galleries, and generally changed up the build- 
ings and arrangement so as to admit the inmates to fresli 
air and exercise. 

He constructed at the Insane Hospital the first open 
air hospital for the treatment of tuberculosis ever built in 
dhe South. 

In this connection, Governor Vardaman, in his message 
to the Legislature of 1908, very forcibly called the atten- 
tion of the Legislature to tuberculosis and the ravages this 
disease was making upon the health of the people. Special 



—35- 



attention is directed to the report of Dr. B. F. Ward, Presi- 
dent of the State Board of Health, dealing with this sub- 
let A recommendation was made for the establishment 
of a hospital for the treatment of tubercular patients. 
From this has come the present tuberculosis sanitarium 
now located at Magee, Mississippi 

Governor Vardaman also recommended the creation of 
a reformatory for the wayward boys and girls of the State. 
This recommendation has also borne fruit, in the building 
by the State cf the Industrial & Training School, at Colum- 
bia. 

He recommended the building of a school for the treat- 
ment of the feeble minded children of this State, and his 
recommendations on this subject show that he or his ad- 
visors were familiar with this subject, and what he said 
then would be just as pertinent if said today. This 
recommendation has also materialized, in the building ot 
the Colony for the Feeble Minded, at Ellisville. 

As a candidate for Governor, Vardaman had laid great 
stress upon the necessity for the education of the white 
children of the State, who were to be its future rulers. 
He had also denounced as unwise the expenditure of money 
in giving the negro children the same sort of education 
as that given to the white children, calling attention to the 
fact that the negro was) not fitted to receive and benefit by 
the same kind of training and education as that given to 
the white The Legislature did not see fit to. attempt to 
deal with this question, but out of it our present admirable 
system of public schools was developed. 

He also secured the adoption of the uniform text book 
law, which gives the same books in all of the schools 
throughout the State, thus saving the people a great deal 
of money in the purchase of school books for their children. 



— 36 — 

Governor Vardaman recommended and secured the 
adoption of the system of State Depositories, whereby the 
public funds are kept in circulation and, when not in use, 
bear a small interest for the benefit of the State. 

He also secured the adoption of a law reducing the 
legal rate of interest from ten to eight per cent. 

He recommended and secured the adoption of a bill 
creating the department of Agriculture and Commerce. 
This department has grown into one of great usefulness to 
the agricultural interests of the State, and now handles a 
very great many things of interest and benefit to all of the 
people of Mississippi. 

He advocated a law requiring trains to provide separate 
sleeping and dining cars for negroes and white people. 

He recommended the creation of a State Board of 
Health, modeled largely upon the plan now in use, and 
urged the creation of the place of County Health Officer 
so that the health of the people might be safeguarded. 

He recommended the creation of a State Highway 
Commission for the supervision and promotion of road 
building. 

He recommended the enactment of laws governing life 
insurance companies, and these were enacted. 

He also called attention to the evils which could be pro- 
duced by the fire insurance companies, and urged the pass- 
age of laws to see that the interests of the people of Missis- 
sippi were properly protected. This matter has been re- 
cently brought forcibly to our attention by the suit of the 
State Revenue Agent against the fire insurance companies 
doing business in the State, resulting in a verdict of more 
than $8,000,000 in favor of the State. 



—37— 



He called attention to the evils of our system of taxa- 
tion and assessment, and urged upon the legislature the 
necessity for the enactment of laws providing for a sys- 
tematic and uniform assessment cf the property of the 
State. 

He urged that provision be made for the election or 
appointment of State Bank Examiners, so that the money 
of the people on deposit would be properly protected. This 
recommendation was not heeded and seme seven or eight 
years later a great many banks of the State failed and hun- 
dreds of thousands of dollars were lost to the depositors. It 
was only this great crisis which forced the passage of our 
present banking law, which not only provides for a system 
of inspection, but has a guaranty feature, as well. 

He urged the passage of laws governing child labor, 
and called attention to the evils being wrought upon the race 
by permitting little children to be worked in factories for 
long hours and under improper conditions. Later we 
have had enacted a child labor law relieving this situation 
to some extent, and we now have the office of State Factory 
Inspector, which was recommended by Governor Vardaman 
in connection with the child labor laws. 

He recommended and worked for the passage of a 
statewide prohibition law. Although the legislature re- 
fused to pass it at his solicitation, the succeeding legisla- 
ture enacted the law and drove the open saloon from the 
State. 

He recommended the building, in connection with either 
the State University or the A. & M. College, of a State 
Normal College for the training of teachers. This recom- 
mendation has been carried out in later years, and we now 
have the State Normal, located at Hattiesburg. 



—38— 

He urged that provision be made for the election of 
judges by popular vote. This amendment to the Consti- 
tution was finally made, and we now have all of the judi- 
ciary, from Justice of the Peace to Supreme Court Judge, 
elected in the same manner as other officers. 

During Vardaman's administration, the home of Jeffer- 
son Davis was offered for sale, and through the efforts of 
the sons of Confederate Veterans, and the hearty coopera- 
tion of the Governor, the home was purchased and turned 
over the State to be used for the care of the old and indi- 
gent Confederate Veterans. This Institution has been de- 
veloped into a splendid foundation which is new caring for 
about 200 Confederate soldiers and their wives. 

Another important matter which came up during his 
administration was the codification of the statute laws of 
the State. The Code of 1906 is the result. 

During the work of preparing this Code, the then ex- 
isting law was attempted to; be amended so as to permit 
corporations to own as much as $10,000,000 worth of land. 
Governor Vardaman vetoed this measure, and his message, 
which is herewith given, will show very clearly the pur- 
poses of the law. The law now stands so as to permit 
corporations to own as much as $1,000,000.00 worth of land, 
irrespective of improvements, provided that the manu- 
facturing corporations may own $2,000,000.00 worth of 
land irrespective of the improvements thereon. The mes- 
sage is as follows : 

MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR. 

MR. PRESIDENT: I am directed by His Excellency the 
Governor to transmitt the enclosed message to the Senate and 
House of Representatives. 

Very Respectfully, 

GEO. R. EDWARDS, Jr., 
Private Secretary. 



—39— 

To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

I have had under consideration Chapter 35 of the dummy 
Code entitled "Corporations," and have thought it prudent 
to call your attention to Section 838— Limits on Value of 
Property, which reads as follows: 

"Every corporation of the classes to be created un- 
der this Chapter and now subject to a less lh ™f , a p ^ n ™ 
the holding of property than hereinafter provided, and 
Sose created ider this Chapter, may hold persona 
property in any amount necessary and proper to its uses 
and purposes and every such corporation except manu- 
facturing corporations, may hold land necessary and 
proper for its purposes to an amount in value not exceed- 
nWone million dollars; manufacturing corporations may 
hold land to an amount not exceeding two million ^ dollars 
in value, but the building, machinery and other fixtures 
on The said land shall be excluded in valuing land, and a 
saw mill corporation may hold pine timber land and 
stTndmg pine timber suitable for manufacturing into 
umberVan amount in value not exceeding ten million 
dollars, but no such corporation shall hold stump land 
or land from which the greater portion of the merchanta- 
ble timber has been cut in excess of the value of two hun- 
dred and fifty thousand dollars, and a corporation shall 
not have a trust, use or benefit in land held in the name 
of any person for its use either expressly or secretly 
to a greater amount than it may lawfully hold; nor shall 
a corporation employ its capital, money or otner thing in 
anyXway than in pursuit of its legitimate business, 
and a corporation offending against any of these provi- 
sions shal forfeit its charter and fifty percent of the ex- 
cess in value of its holdings, but anything herein con- 
tai ed shall not prevent a corporation from taking land 
or a Hen on land to a greater amount than it may hold 
S payment of a security for debt, if the same shall not 
be for a longer period than ten years, and an increase 
in the market value of real estate after it has been ac- 
quired by a corporation over the limit it was or is autho- 
rize It hold shall not operate to forfeit the charter of 
any corporation or of the fifty percent hereinbefore pro- 
vided for." 

I cannot command words with which to express my dis- 
approval of a law which permits corporations to hold such 
large amounts of land as is provided for in this section. 

The policy of our laws, for many years, be it said to the 
credit of her law makers, has been against the concentra- 
tion of wealth in the hands of the few, for the elimination of 



— 4U— 

trusts and against the fostering of monopoly. This sec- 
tion, if it becomes a law, places the pine forests of South 
Mississippi within the hands of the few people to be ex- 
ploited, used and employed for the benefit of the few against 
the interests of the many. If the Legislature had under- 
taken in definite terms to create a lumber trust, and place 
the long-leaf pine industry in the hands of a limited number 
of men to be used as their cupidity and self-interest might 
dictate, I cannot conceive of a method or a means by which 
it could have been more effectually done than is proposed to 
be done by the enactment of this law. In the material de- 
velopment of our State and the pecuniary well-being of its 
people, we are all deeply interested, but I would warn you, in 
this age of money getting and cruel greed for gold, not to 
permit the glamour of great wealth to so affect your mental 
and moral vision that you cannot commit yourselves to a 
policy which will necessarily work harm to our people in the 
future by making the rich richer and the poor poorer. The 
best product of any land is its men and women, and that is 
the happiest and most prosperous population where the 
wealth of the State is most equally divided between the peo- 
ple. Millionairs produce paupers — the concentration of 
riches i i the hands of the few breeds poverty and squalor 
among the many. The effect of such legislation will be to 
close the door of opportunity and hope in the face of the 
struggling Youth of the State,and make of them the toilers 
for the favored rich. 

I trust that it is not too late for the Legislature to strike 
out this Section which I believe to be the most dangerous and 
pernicious piece of legislation ever proposed to the lawmak- 
ing body of Mississippi. 

JAMES K. VARDAMAN. 

Senate Journal, 1906, page 1091. 
House Journal, 1906, page 1306. 

The record of Vardaman as Governor, although a splen- 
did one in a great many respects, and a record that has 
been of great material advantage to the people of the State, 
has never been presented to the people in a political cam- 
paign. It is a fact that a very small percentage of the 



—41— 

people of the State are familiar with his record as Chief 
Executive of the State for four years. One reason for this 
is the fact that practically all of the daily papers published 
and circulating in the State have been politically hostile to 
him, and probably three-fourths of the weekly papers have 
been in the same class. During a political campaign hos- 
tile politicians and unfriendly newspapers deem it the cor- 
rect thing to misrepresent, to some extent at least, the poli- 
tical record of an opponent, and where misrepresentation 
does not serve, silence is effectively employed. 

One of the best testimonials to the record of Varda- 
man as Governor was inadvertently furnished by his lead- 
ing political enemy, Honorable John Sharp Williams. Mr. 
Williams had represented Mississippi in the lower house of 
Congress for a number of years, and had achieved some 
prominence as a debater and a leader in that body. He 
had been given the place of minority leader just prior to his 
entrance into the senatorial campaign of 1907. Mr. 
Williams' friends were extremely confident of his election 
over Governor Vardaman by a large majority. Many of 
the bets made on the result of that campaign were made 
upon the basis of Williams' majority. Mr. Williams no 
doubt shared this confidence, and in interviews given out 
both in Mississippi and in Washington had stated that he 
expected to be elected by 40,000 majority. When the re- 
sult was announced, he had a majority of 648 votes. An 
explanation being in order, he gave it by stating that, in 
substance, Vardaman had made one of the best governors 
that Mississippi ever had, and the people of Mississippi de- 
sired to show their approval of that record. 

The race of Williams and Vardaman for the Senate was 
a memorable one in many respects. It was the second 
time in the history of the State that all the electors had 
been permitted to take part in a primary election for the 
nomination of the United States Senator. Mississippi was 



just emerging from the old era of control by prominent poli- 
ticians. The electors were just beginning to understand 
the new power in their hands. The character of the men 
engaged in the contest was well known, and each of the 
candidates had a statewide reputation and acquaintance, 
both personally and politically. 

Vardaman represented, roughly, the progressive ele- 
ment of the State. As some of his newspaper enemies 
said, his followers were largely the red necks and hill-billies, 
meaning by that, that they were largely composed of the 
farming and laboring classes of the State. The Populist 
party had passed from the scene of action in Mississippi, 
and the men who had formerly aligned themselves with this 
party generally espoused the cause of Governor Vardaman. 
These men were believers in the policies and principles ad- 
voted by the Populist Party in the '90s. 

Vardaman refused to quit the office of Governor to 
make a general statewide speaking campaign. At that 
time the custom of the political friends of the candidates 
taking the stump for their candidate was not general. Hav- 
ing only a small percentage cf the press in his favor, Varda- 
man was never able to present properly his record as Gov- 
ernor to the people of the State, and the achievements of 
his administration were ignored or misrepresented by his 
political opponents. The old cry of arousing race prejudict 
was raised, and the fight largely made upon the personality 
of Governor Vardaman. The Governor himself advocated, 
in regard to national questions, a number of important 
things, the principal one being the repeal of the 15th amend- 
ment to the Federal Constitution and the modification of 
the 14th. 

Mr. Williams was an old political enemy of Varda- 
man's. They had first joined issue upon the liquor question 
many years prior to this campaign. Generally speaking, 



—43— 

Mr. Williams represented the reactionary element of the 
State. He stood for the "safe and sane" idea in politics, 
and was represented by his friends, then as now, as being 
a great statesman and a wonderful debater. It was point- 
ed out that Mr. Williams, if elected to the Senate, would 
be respected by the Republican members of the Senate, who 
would largely be in control, and that he would be able to 
get things and do something for the people of the State. 

There was no special accomplishment of Mr. Williams' 
mentioned, because as a matter of fact, his record as Con- 
gressman was entirely barren of any specific achievement. 
Mr. Williams and his friends made the campaign largely 
by attacking Governor Vardaman upon personal grounds. 
Vardaman was portrayed as a freak, and as a man of no 
intellectual attainments. The impression was sought to be 
given that Vardaman personally was a mere declaimer, 
and capaole only of such oratory as might be exported from 
a typical Indian Doctor engaged in selling patent medicines 
upon the street corner. One of the statements m the cam- 
paign was the charge that the issue was "brains vs. hair." 
Very little was said in regard to the shaping of national 
policies or the discussion of national questions. 

Vardaman was also charged with having run foreign 
capital out of the State by reason of his veto of the Mobile 
& Ohio Railroad Merger Bill and his opposition to the fam- 
ous Corporate Land Holding Bill. It was charged that the 
great saw mill established at Bogalusa, Louisiana, was built 
there because of the hostile attitude of the Governor of 
Mississippi to capital, although the location of the mill did 
not affect the legal standing of the corporation either in 
Louisiana or Mississippi, because the corporation could not 
own in excess of $2,000,000.00 worth of land in Mississippi 
regardless of its domicile. If it had been domiciled in Mis 
sissippi it would have been permitted, so- far as we wero 
concerned, to own the entire State of Louisiana, could it 
have acquired title to the land. 



—44— 

One of the features of the Campaign was the joint de- 
bate (so called) between Vardaman and Williams at Meri- 
dian on the 4th day of July, 1907. It has been often assert- 
ed that this joint meeting between the two candidates was 
the cause of Vardaman's defeat. If so, it is a result of the 
revelatizn made to Mr. Williams and his friends. When 
this joint speaking engagement' was held, Mr. Williams and 
his friends discovered that much the larger part of the 
crowd was favorable to his opponent, and as a result of 
that meeting, Mr. Williams' advisors decided that it was 
necessary for him to undertake and carry on a very much 
more vigorous campaign than had been pursued up to that 
time. Activities in the Williams camp underwent a radical 
and vigorous change. During the last weeks of the cam- 
paign special trains, with brass bands and other equipment, 
were run over all the principal railroads of the State; 
speeches were made at every station, and a great deal of en- 
thusiasm was injected into the campaign. 

When the votes were counted the result was practically 
a tie. The decision was not determined until the Executive 
Committee had met and made the official c3-unt. Many of 
Governor Vardaman's friends had prepared and were ready 
to present and prove charges of fraud and mismanagement 
in the elections held at a number of the precincts, but Varda- 
man refused to permit this to be done, and accepted the re- 
sult as announced by the State Executive Committee, which 
gave the contest to Mr. Williams by 648 votes. 

Vardaman then gave out an interview thanking his 
friends for their support, and graciously accepting the re- 
sult of the election. Mr. Williams, on the other hand, was 
apparently disappointed with his small majority, and at the 
meeting held by his friends to celebrate the result, took 
occasion to criticise severely the election and the class of 
people who had voted against him. It can hardly be doubted 
that twenty days after the election popular opinion had 



—45— 

swung thoroughly over to Vardaman, and had the election 
been held at that time, he would have been elected by a 
handsome majority. It can also hardly be doubted that 
from that time until the present, Vardaman has retained 
the confidence of a majority of the people of Mississippi, 
and has at all times been their choice as a representative in 
the United States Senate. 



CHAPTER III. 
As Private Citizen and Editor. 

"A weapon that comes down as still 

As snowf lakes fall upon the sod; 
But executes a freeman's will, 

As lightning does the will of God; 
And from its force, nor doors nor locks 
Can shield you; 'tis the ballot box." 

— Pierpont. 

3* FTER leaving the office of Governor in 1908, Varda- 

/■^ man established a weekly newspaper, which he 

named "The Issue." Publication of this was begun 

in February, 1908, and was continued, under the ownership 

and editorship of Mr. Vardaman until after his election to 

the United States Senate in 1911. 

Although devoted primarily to political questions, The 
Issue was also a literary journal, and did a great deal in 
developing Mississippi writers. Such men as Dr. B. F. 
Ward, of Winona ; Professor A. H. Ellett, of Blue Mountain ; 
Dr. W. T. Boiling, of Tennessee, and others, were regular 
contributors to its columns. * 

In the latter part of December, 1909, United States Sen- 
ator A. J. McLaurin suddenly died. At that time United 
States Senators were elected by the Legislatures cf the 
various States. In Mississippi, however, the election by 
the Legislature (except in case of vacancy) was merely a 
formal ratification of the popular choice of the primaries ; 
but in this case there had been no primary election held, and 
the Legislature which met on the first of January felt that 
it should elect the Senator, without referring the matter to 
the electors. 



—47— 

The friends of Mr. Vardaman in the Legislature fav- 
ored submitting the matter to the voters at a special elec- 
tion, but this did not find favor, and the plan was abandon- 
ed. Under the Constitution, the Legislature could not be- 
gin ballotting for the election of a Senator until it had been 
in session for about three weeks. The political opponents 
of Mr. Vardaman then proposed, that since the Senator 
could not be elected for three weeks, and no other business 
would be transacted until this election was held and the 
matter disposed of, that the Legislature, instead of waiting 
the three weeks, consitute itself a party caucus and proceed 
to nominate the candidate, which would be formally ratifi- 
ed when the time arrived for the Senator to be legally 
elected. It was by this method that a caucus was entered 
into. 

There were six candidates for the Senate, who made 
formal announcement before the Legislature. Most of 
these candidates, while no doubt candidates in entire good 
faith, were brought into the campaign by the political ene- 
mies of Vardaman, for the purpose of preventing him from 
obtaining a majority in the first few ballots that were to 
be held. These various candidates for the senate were all 
popular gentlemen, and represented every section of the 
State of Mississippi. The old enemies of Vardaman were 
largely centered, from the first, around the standard of Mr. 
Leroy Percy, of Greenville. 

The political opponents of Mr. Vardaman next pro- 
posed that all the ballots should be voted secretly by the 
members of the Legislature. From this arose the name 
"secret caucus." The friends of Vardaman wanted the 
ballotting to be by viva voce votes. Had this plan been 
adopted there is hardly any doubt that the members of the 
Legislature would have responded to the wishes of their 
constituents and elected Vardaman to the Senate in a very 
short period of ballotting. 



—48— 

With six candidates in the field a dead-lock was pro- 
duced, which lasted until the time for the Senator to be 
elected in the legal way; that is, by the Senate and the 
House meeting in joint session and each member openly 
voting for the candidate of his choice when his name was 
called. To prevent a legal election of a Senator, the mem- 
bers of the caucus adopted a resolution binding all of the 
members of the caucus to vote for some man who was not 
a candidate for the United States Senate. The result of 
this resolution was that each day, when the Senate and 
House met in joint session and the roll was called, each 
member of the Legislature would cast a complimentary vote 
for some citizen of the State. 

To illustrate the intense desire of the opponents of Var- 
daman not only to defeat him but to elect Mr. Percy, at one 
time Mr. C. H. Alexander became the second candidate in the 
ballotting for Senator, and it looked as if he might draw 
to himself the opposition to Vardaman, and bring the con- 
test to a close. 

To meet this situation some plan had to be devised 
whereby Mr. Alexander could be eliminated from the con- 
test. One day, just as the Legislature adjourned for din- 
ner, the friends of Mr. Percy hurriedly passed around the 
word that there would be a special meeting in the Senate 
Chamber of those members of the Legislature opposed to 
the election of Governor Vardaman. Quite a number of these 
meetings had been held by both 1 sides to the contest, and no 
especial importance was attached to the call for this meet- 
ing. 

When the anti- Vardaman members of the Legislature 
convened in this meeting, it was proposed that they pro- 
ceed to vote for a man to be dropped from the race and the 
candidate receiving the highest number of votes would 
thereafter be excluded from the race. The friends of Mr. 




Governor Jas. K. Vardaman 
(1907) 



—49— 

Percy voted for Mr. Alexander, while the friends of the 
other candidates scattered their votes among the various 
other candidates for the Senate. The result was that Mr. 
Alexander received mere votes than any other of the oppo- 
sition, and consequently was withdrawn from the race. 

During this contest before the Legislature, and after 
the adjournment of the Legislature, a great many charges 
were made of corruption of various kinds. A great deal 
of whiskey was used, whether improperly or not, those who 
dispensed it and those who drank it are most competent to 
say. Various other methods of corruption were resorted 
to. The office of Federal District Attorney was vacant, 
and it was later discovered that some of the opponents of 
Mr. Vardaman had been able to induce President Taft to 
withhold this appointment, so that it might be used to win 
voles away from Mr. Vardaman, by promising that this 
office would be given to some member, of the Legislature. 

Judgeships and other appointive offices in Mississippi 
were promised to various members of the Legislature if 
they would align themselves with the anti-Vardaman forces. 
Whether these promises were made with the consent of the 
Governor of the State cannot be known except by the im- 
mediate parties concerned. The Legislature created a num- 
ber of new positions, among them being the office of Coun- 
ty Attorney, (one for each of the 79 counties) , and these 
places were used to induce members of the Legislature to 
withdraw their support from Vardaman. Whether or not 
this was done with the knowledge and consent of the Gov- 
ernor, cannot be known ; but it is true that all these places 
were ultimately given to men who voted or worked against 
Vardaman in this contest, and some of them were men who 
had started out as his friends. 

The Legislature also created two Supreme Court Com- 
missioners, to assist the three Supreme Court Judges. 



—50— 

Judge Whitfield, then Chief Justice, resigned and was ap- 
pointed a Commissioner for a term of nine years at the 
same salary as Chief Justice. Senator W. D. Anderson 
was then appointed Supreme Judge. The reason for this 
method was because Anderson, as a member of the Legis- 
lature which created the office of Supreme Court Commis- 
sioner, was not eligible for appointment to that position. 

Charges of bribery were freely made, and ultimately 
found their way into the courts of the State, and have be- 
come familiar to all ofjhe people in the State. 

The result of the "Secret Caucus" is, of course, known 
to all men, and that was that Vardaman was defeated for 
the Senate. He continued his work with his newspaper, 
and almost immediately after the adjournment of the Leg- 
islature in the Spring of 1910, the campaign was begun 
for the election of a Senator the following year. During 
the Summer and Autumn of 1910, Vardaman, Alexander 
and Percy, the three candidates for the Senate in this cam- 
paign, and their friends, were busy making speeches to the 
voters of the State. The ore great overshadowing issue in 
this campaign was the "Secret Caucus." Practically no 
national issues were discussed. Vardaman's friends, 
while reiterating his position, favoring the repeal of the 
15th Amendment to the Constitution, and his general ideas 
upon the race question, devoted most of their time to con- 
demning and denouncing the famous "Secret Caucus." 

The friends of Mr. Percy and Mr. Alexander vigorous- 
ly defended the caucus on the grounds of custom and prece- 
dent, and contended that no corruption or other improper 
methods had been practiced by any of the candidates for 
the United States Senate. Also attacks were made upon 
Vardaman's personal character. He was charged with 
having misappropriated all the various funds which were 
bandied by him as Governor. It was charged that the 



—51— 

contingent fund had been misapplied and misspell t and part 
itf it appropriated to his personal use. It was alio charged 
that the Spanish-American War Fund, and the Bryan fund, 
and the Battleship fund had all been improperly handled, 
and the impression was sought to be conveyed that the mon- 
ey had been u f ied for the personal benefit of Governor Var- 
daman. 

None of these charges were ever proven, and no evi- 
dence was brought forward that there had been any mis- 
appropriation of funds, but feeling was intense on both sides 
and in the heat of partisan conflict almost any charge, no 
matter how ridiculous, would be believed by those who wish- 
ed to believe it. • But the result of the campaign was never 
in doubt. In this contest, Vardaman's friends took the 
offensive, as the militarists express it, and kept it until the 
close of the campaign. The result was that Vardaman 
won by a majority of more than 26,000 votes over both of 
his distinguished opponents. 

After the election held in 1911, and pending the time- 
March 4th, 1913 — when Vardaman would take his seat in 
the Senate, the fight against Vardaman was kept up. Some 
effort was made by his more bitter personal enemies to pre- 
vent his being seated as a member of the United States 
Senate. Some of these partisans went so far as to file 
charges with the officials of the Senate protesting against 
the seating of Vardaman as a Senator, but of course these 
informal protests were ignored. 

Some of the national magazines and newspapers were 
at that time engaged in what was popularly termed "muck- 
raking." Some special writer visited Mississippi in 1911, 
and wrote a story of the Secret Caucus held the year be- 
fore. This story was published in the Cosmopolitan Mag- 
azine. Using this story as a basis, Senator Percy took oc- 



—52— 

casion to reply to the story from his place in the Senate, 
and made use of this opportunity to attack very bitterly the 
man who would succeed him as Senator. 

The result of all this was that, when Vardaman enter- 
ed the Senate, he was well and unfavorably known by the 
members of that body. All the information which had 
been given to the members of the Senate about the new 
Senator from Mississippi was unfavorable. Vardaman 
was thus confronted with a reputation, when he entered the 
Senate, of being a firebrand, an agitator and a fanatic upon 
the race question. It was predicted that he would have 
no influence in that body, and the reputation which his 
enemies created for him was well calculated to make that 
prediction come true. 

As a Senator, Vardaman began his career with the 
dislike, and under the suspicion, of many of his fellow 
members. All this had to be lived down and a new reputa- 
tion built up before he could begin to accomplish anything 
for the people he was sent there to represent. 



CHAPTER IV. 

In the United States Senate. 

"Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, 

As the swift reasons roll! 

Leave thy low-vaulted past! 
Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, 

Till thou at length art free, 
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting "■* ^ 

^ S HAS been stated heretofore, Vardaman entered the 
A United States Senate under a cloud of suspicion. 
(7 V His fellow members, no doubt, expected that at the 
first convenient opportunity he would break out in the typi- 
cal firebrand manner made famous by "Pitchfork Ben 
Tillman of South Carolina. On the other hand, he entered 
the Senate at a favorable time. The Democrats had just 
elected a President upon a progressive platform, and tor 
the first time in many, many years had control i both 
houses of Congress and the executive department of the 
Government. Vardaman was therefore a member of the 
majority of the 'Senate, and as such was entitled to rank 
upon the Committees not accorded to members of the mi- 
nority A great many of the Senators elected at the same 
time were likewise new Senators ; and in this body, where 
length of service gives precedence and prestige, in so many 
particulars, Vardaman was enabled to begin higher up the 
ladder than is usually the case with a new Senator. 

To go back a little, the presidential campaign of 1912 
had been made at a time when the progressive spirit was 
predominant throughout the nation. The Republican 
partv had renominated President Taft, who had made an 



—54— 

unpopular President. His endorsement of the tariff law 
enacted by the Congress, (which was a revision of the tariff 
upward instead of downward, as had been promised), did 
not add anything to his popularity. 

The progressive element of the Republican party was 
so dissatisfied with the nomination of Taft that it followed 
the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt, organized a new 
party and called it the "Progressive Party," which later 
took the popular title of the "Bull Moosers." 

Mr. Wilson had been a candidate in the primaries in a 
number of States. Presidential primaries were at that 
time a new thing, and a great deal of importance was at- 
tached to their results. No one candidate for the Demo- 
cratic nomination for President, had entered his name in 
the primaries in all the States. In Mississippi the two 
candidates to enter their names were Woodrow Wilson and 
Oscar Underwocd, of Alabama. Senator Vardaman es- 
poused the cause of Mr. Underwood, and made a quiet cam- 
paign among his friends for the candidate of his choice. 

Senator Williams endorsed the candidacy of Mr. Wil- 
son and he and his friends made a campaign in the inter- 
ests of Wilson. 

The result was, that Mr. Underwood carried Mississip- 
pi by a vote of more than three to one over Mr. Wilson. 
The Democratic delegates from Mississippi to the Balti- 
more Convention were therefore pledged to vote for Mr. 
Underwood. The Baltimore Convention, held in 1912, was 
controlled largely by what might be termed progressive 
delegates. Mr. Bryan had regained a large share of his 
former popularity, and wielded a large influence in the con- 
vention. 

At the St. Louis Convention, when Mr. Parker had 
been nominated for President, the candidate was selected 



—55- 



and the platform adopted afterwards. Mr. Parker pro- 
ceeded to repudiate certain parts of the platform thus 
adopted. To prevent s-uch a thing from happening again Mr. 
Bryan insisted that the platform should first be adopted 
and then the candidate nominated, so that there would be 
no opportunity of repudiating any part of the platform. 

The leading candidates for the nomination were Wood- 
row Wilson, then Governor of New Jersey, and Champ Clark 
a member of Congress from Missouri. Mr. Clark secured 
a majority of the votes of the delegates on several ballots, 
but was unable to secure the required two-thirds. After 
? great many ballots had been taken, Mr. Wilson was nom- 
inated as the Democratic candidate. Throughout all of 
this ballotting, Vardaman and the Mississippi delegation 
stood firmly by Underwood, and refused to assist the can- 
didacy of Mr. Wilson, even after Mr. Underwood was ad- 
mittedly out of the race. Woodrow Wilson never forgave 
this. Thus early we may see the beginning of a personal 
political quarrel between Mr. Wilson and Mr. Vardaman. 

In the campaign which followed, Mr. Vardaman vigor- 
ously supported the Democratic candidate for President, 
and devoted a considerable part of his time campaigning in 
the doubtful States of the Middle West. 

Since Mr. Wilson had publicly announced himself as a 
, progressive, and was elected on a progressive platform, es- 
pecially endorsed by progressives of the type of Mr. Bryan, 
the beginning cf the Democratic administration found the 
President and Senator Vardaman close together, politically. 
Only a short time after he had begun his work in the Sen- 
ate, Senator Vardaman publicly stated that President Wil- 
son had made further progress in his confidence than any 
ether man he had ever known for the same length of time. 

The first work of the Democratic Congress was to car- 
ry out some of the platform promises upon which the party 



—56— 

had been returned to power. The Democrats were enthus- 
iastic, and, having their first taste of political power after 
so many years, were somewhat hurriedly putting their pro- 
gram into effect. The only adverse criticism to this pro- 
gram arose from the big business interests of the country, 
who were somewhat skeptical cf such sweeping reforms so 
rapidly put into effect. 

The first great task of Congress was to revise the tariff 
rates downward. The creation of a Federal Reserve Bank- 
ing System was undertaken, the establishment and enlarge- 
ment of the Postal Savings Banks, the establishment of the 
Federal Farm Loan Banks, and the further development of 
the parcel post, were some of the measures put into effect. 
Congress also authorized the construction of a government- 
owned railroad in Alaska, and provided for the development 
of that territory, rich in coal and other minerals. In all of 
these and similar matters, Wilson and Vardaman were in 
accord. 

President Wilson broke the long established and re- 
spected custom when he delivered his first message to the 
Congress in person. We have just seen that the first ut- 
terance of Vardaman in regard to the new President was 
one of praise. Mr. Wilson's violation of the old custom pro- 
voked the wrath of Senator Williams, and his first public 
utterance in regard to the new President was one of adverse 
criticism. 

First Differences With the Presidents 

That part of Vardaman's record, while a member of the 
Senate, that deals with his differences and disagreements 
with the Chief Executive has been more frequently discuss- 
ed and misrepresented than all his other official acts put to- 
gether. In the Senatorial campaign of 1918 the great 



—57— 

fight made against him was on the ground that he had not 
supported the policies of the President. 

Of course, a great deal was said in that campaign in 
regard to disloyalty and treason to the Government, but in 
his, fight against the re-election of Senator Vardaman 
President Wilson did not charge that Senator Vardaman 
had been in any way disloyal to the United States or that 
he had been at variance with the Democratic platform. The 
President's words show that his objections to Senator Var- 
daman were personal, and based upon what he conceived to 
be the opposition of Vardaman to the personal policies of 
the President. In fact, this attitude characterized Mr. 
Wilson's objection to all the members of Congress whose re- 
election he actively opposed. 

In speaking of his objection to Congressman Huddles- 
ton, of Alabama, President Wilson said that he felt himself 
justified in saying that the Congressman's record "proved 
him in every way an opponent to the administration." In 
his letter opposing the re-election of Senator Hardwick, of 
Georgia, he said, "Senator Hardwick has been a constant 
and active opponent of my administration." In his letter 
opposing the re-election of the Junior Senator from Missis- 
sippi, he said, "Senator Vardaman has been conspicuous 
among the Democrats of the Senate for his opposition to 
the administration." And he then added that if the voters 
of Mississippi were to re-elect Mr. Vardaman, "I should be 
obliged to accept their action as a condemnation of my ad- 
ministration-" 

Therefore, taking it all in all, it appears that the quar- 
rel, if it may be termed such, between President Wilson and 
Senator Vardaman, was more personal than political. Its 
beginning, was no doubt founded upon the opposition 
of Vardaman to the nomination of Mr. Wilson as the Demo- 
cratic candidate for President. The President, soon after 



—58— 

he had been inducted into office, sent to the Senate for con- 
firmation as Register of the Treasury the name of a negro 
from Oklahoma. This office had been given to a negro 
for a great many years, and had come to be looked upon as 
among the spoils belonging to negro voters. 

Mr. Vardaman promptly accepted this challenge to 

white men, and interposed an objection to the confirmation 

of the negro appointee. By some hard work he was able 

to convince the President, and the President's advisors that 

the appointment was ill-advised, and the name of the negro 

was withdrawn. H. B. Tehee, an Indian half-breed from 
Oklahoma, was named instead. 

Now, all the men who have written about Mr. Wilson, 
including the anonymous author of the recent book "Mir- 
rors of Washington," agree that Mr. Wilson was so consti- 
tuted that he could not brook personal opposition, nor could 
he meet with any man upon a plane cf equality. The hab- 
its of a lifetime in the schoolroom could not be cast aside, 
and Mr. Wilson seemed to be incapable of discussing politi- 
cal differences on a plane of equality with men who were 
presumed to be his advisors and co-workers in the Govern- 
ment. 

Soon after the appointment of the negro Register of 
the Treasury, the President sent in to the Senate the ap- 
pointment of a negro namel Terrell to be Judge of the 
Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia. Senator 
Vardaman again promptly interposed an objection to the 
confirmation of this negro, and caused the President con- 
siderable embarrassment before it was confirmed. 

It was pending the confirmation of this appointment 
that Senator Vardaman called upon Mr. Wilson and discuss- 
ed with him the impropriety of naming a negro for the office 
of judge of the appellate court. He pointed out that in this 



—59— 

court, the great majority of the litigants were white people, 
and in many cases were white women, and it could serve no 
good purpose to place a negro Judge in a position where he 
would be compelled to arouse racial antagonism. Mr. Wil- 
son replied that he had promised the negro leaders of Amer- 
ica to give them as much official recognition, and as many 
federal appointments as Taft had given them, and that he 
proposed to carry out these promises. As a matter of fact, 
Mr. Wilson has always had the feeling of the typical New 
Englander upon the race question, and could never be made 
to see the dangers to the American Republic involved in the 
problem. 

When the Federal Reserve Board was created, the 
President nominated for membership on this Board, Paul 
Warburg, who was a member of Kuhn-Loeb & Company of 
Wall Street, New York, and W. D. Jones, a member of the 
Harvester Trust, from Chicago. Mr. Vardaman promptly 
denounced and objected to these appointments, and as a re- 
sult the name of Jones was withdrawn. Warburg was 
confirmed. Mr. Wilson never forgave Vardaman for op- 
posing these vicious appointments ; the attempted placing of 
Trust magnates in responsible and important public offices. 
Such appointments are the cause of the failure of the Fed- 
eral Reserve Banks to serve the people. 

Along in the early part of President Wilsons admin- 
istration, the State of California proposed to enact a law 
forbidding aliens, who could not become citizens of the 
United States, from owning land, and further, to provide 
that these aliens could not enter into a peculiar kind of lease 
through their minor children. By the terms of this lease 
the Japanese would, in effect, have the ownership of large 
tracts of land in California. So serious did this question 
become that Mr. Wilson dispatched his Secretary of State, 
Mr. Bryan, to Sacramento for the purpose of conferring 



—60— 

with the Governor and Legislature of that State, to the 
end that the proposed laws might be defeated. 

The Governor of California at that time was Hiram W. 
Johnson, and the mission of Mr. Bryan was not successful. 
In this controversy Senator Vardaman prominently and 
vigorously sustained the position of the California lawmak- 
ers, and) thus incurred the further displeasure of the Presi- 
dent. 

Another question which came up and further widened 
the breach between President Wilson and Senator Varda- 
man, was that of the so-called Panama Tolls Bill. During 
the administration of President Taft, the House of Repre- 
restatives, then controlled by the Democrats, passed a bill 
which exempted non-railroad owned ships, engaged in coast- 
wise commerce, from the payment of tolls in passing 
through the newly completed Panama Canal. The Demo- 
cratic platform adopted in 1912, on the subject of ships in 
the Panama Canal, had this to say : 

"We favor the exemption from tolls of Amer- 
ican ships engaged in coastwise trade passing 
through the Panama Canal. We also favor leg- 
islation forbidding the use of the Panama Canal 
by ships owned or controlled by railroad carriers 
engaged in transportation competitive with the 
Canal." 

It will thus be seen that the Democratic platform spe- 
cifically declared for free tolls. Before the Democrats as- 
sumed control of the government in March, 1913, the Free 
Tolls Bill had been passed by Congress and signed by the 
President. Some time after the new administration was 
organized, the Government of Great Britain had interposed 
some objections to the proposed exemption of American 
ships because it claimed the exemption violated the terms of 



—61— 



the Hav-Pauncefote treaty, which provided that ships of all 
nations using the Canal should do so upon equal terms. 

No foreign ship may engage in the carrying of com- 
merce from one pert in the United States to another port 
thereof, and it is entirely clear that the exemption of coast- 
wise ships from the payment of tolls in no way affected the 
commerce of ships under the flag of Great Britain. 

During the campaign for President, Mr. Wilson had 
made a speech to the farmers of New Jersey, generally en- 
dorsing the entire Democratic platform and specifically 
endorsing the plank with reference to free tolls. In this 
speech, delivered on the 16th day of August, 1912, he said: 

"One of the great objects in cutting that great 
ditch across the Isthmus of Panama is to allow 
farmers who are near the Atlantic to ship to the 
Pacific by way of the Atlantic ports ; to allow all 
the farmers of what I may, standing here, call this 
part of the continent, to find an outlet at ports ol 
the Gulf or the ports of the Atlantic seaboard, and 
then have coastwise steamers carry their products 
down around through the Canal and up the Pacific 
Coast, or down the coast of South America. Now, 
at present, there are nc ships to do that, and one 
of the bills pending * * * * passed, I believe, 
yesterday, by the Senate, as it had passed the 
House * * * * provides for free tolls for Ameri- 
can ships through that Canal, and prohibits any 
ship from passing through which is owned by any 
American railroad company. You see the object 
of that; don't you?" 

During the controversy in the Senate, Mr. Vardaman 
took occasion to remind the Senate and the country of 
Democratic platform, and repeated upon the floor of the 
Senate the speech of the President endorsing free tolls. In 
this same speech, Senator Vardaman took occasion to quote 
at length from a speech made by Mr. Bryan to the Pennsyl- 



—62— 

vania Legislature on May 13th, 1913. After discussing 
at length the purposes of a platform, Mr. Bryan had said : 

"I lay it down as a proposition, and I am pre- 
pared to defend it anywhere, that the representa- 
tive who secures office upon a platform and then 
holds the office and betrays the people who elected 
him, is a criminal worse than the man who embez- 
zles money entrusted to him." 

Mr. Vardaman further pointed out that one result of 
the repeal of the Panama Tolls Bill would be that it would 
enable the transcontinental railroads to raise their freight 
rates between New York and San Francisco about $60.00 
per car. In recommending the repeal of the Free Tolls Bill, 
President Wilson did not state any reason why it should be 
done, other than to say, "Because I ask you to do it," and 
suggested that there were circumstances of great moment 
that he was not at liberty to discuss. The construction 
placed upon this was that if the bill were repealed, we would 
be enabled to make some advantageous agreement with 
Great Britain. The result of Senator Vardaman's opposi- 
tion to this measure was that the President's anger toward 
Senator Vardaman was increased, and he apparently re- 
garded the Junior Senator from Mississippi as a personal 
enemy. 

Still another matter which provoked the wrath of the 
President was the separation of the races in the Depart- 
ments at Washington. It had been a custom of long stand- 
ing that absolutely no discrimination was made between the 
members of the white and negro races employed by the 
Federal Government in the various Departments in Wash- 
ington. White stenographers were assigned to work un- 
der negro bureau heads. White women and negro women 
shared the same toilet rooms and used the same articles 
therein. This, of course, did not meet with the approval 



—63— 

of Senator Vardaman, and it seems that he alone, of all the 
Southern Senators, had the courage to begin a fight for the 
segregation of the races in these departments. One lone 
Senator could not do much towards the separation of the 
races, except for the fact that he would be able to reach the 
ear of the public, and in that way bring pressure to bear 
upon the administration. By bold and persistent efforts, 
Senator Vardaman won his point, and the white and negro 
employees were temporarily seggregated throughout the 
departments in Washington. 

There were other matters, along similar lines, that had 
to do with the differences between the President and the 
Junior Senator from Mississippi. Few of these differences 
had been due to any general disagreement upon party poli- 
tics. In every case where there ivas such a differivence, as 
in the case of the Panama Tolls Bill, Senator Vardaman stood 
upon the Democratic platform and the President violated 
it, or did something contrary to the traditions of the Demo- 
cratic Party- It will thus be seen that a difference cf 
opinion and a very substantial beginning for a quarrel had 
already developed between Mr. Vardaman and Mr. Wilson 
long before the United States declared war against Ger- 
many. 

The Income Tax. 

Prior to the campaign of 1912, Congress had submitted 
to the various states a proposed amendment to the Federal 
Constitution, which would permit the Federal Government 
to levy a tax upon incomes of individuals as well as cor- 
porations. After the induction into office of the Demo- 
cratic administration, the necessary number of States rati- 
fied the proposed amendment, and it was inserted into the 
Constitution as the 16th amendment. 

The income tax had been specifically endorsed in the 
Democratic platform of 1912, and the Democratic Congress 
very promptly undertook the task of drafting the income tax 



—64— 

law. This bill was prepared by the Finance Committee of 
the Senate, of which Vardaman of Mississippi was not a 
member, the place on that Committee being filled by Sen- 
ator Williams. The Finance Committee reported this bill, 
which imposed a tax of three per cent upon all incomes in 
excess of $100,000.00. An attempt was made to make this 
a party measure, and a Party Caucus was called for the 
purpose of binding the Democratic Senators to support the 
bill as reported by the Finance Committee, and rejecting 
any amendment which might be offered by the Republicans, 
or independent Democrats. 

Senator Vardaman and other progressive members of 
botli parties in the Senate were in favor of a much higher 
rate than three per cent, upon the larger incomes. And 
it might not be amiss to say here, that the Congress is not 
divided into Republicans and Democrats, because many Re- 
publicans are good Democrats and some Democrats are as 
staunchly Republican as Lodge of Massachusetts or Smoot 
of Utah. One of the amendments which the progressive Re- 
publicans had determined to stand for was to be offered by 
Senator LaFollette of Wisconsin, providing for a tax of 
ten per cent upon incomes, in excess of $100,000. 

Senator Vardaman insisted that the matter of fixing 
the rate was not a party measure, and that he favored a 
higher rate upon the larger incomes. He flatly told the 
caucus that he would not be bound by it, and would advo- 
cate and vote for the amendment placing a tax of ten per 
cent upon incomes in excess of $100,000.00. In this atti- 
tude he was supported by several of the progressive Sena- 
tors, and the Finance Committee was face to face with de- 
feat and a -breach in the party line-up. As a matter of 
compromise, Senator Smith of Georgia, proposed that the 
rate upon incomes in excess of $100,000.00 be fixed at seven 
per cent. Senator Vardaman and his progressive asso- 



—65— 

ciates agreed to this compromise, and with united Demo- 
cratic support it went through. It is therefore due to the 
individual efforts of Senator Vardaman that the rate upon 
incomes in excess of $100,000.00 was fixed at seven per 
cent instead of three per cent, which means that large in- 
comes were subjected, by his work, to an additional tax of 
four per cent. 

From this time on, "Big Business" knew that as Sen- 
ator, as he had been as a Legislator and as Governor of 'Mis- 
sissippi Vardaman was an uncompromising foe to special 
privilege. Thus to the lumber trust, the whiskey trust, the 
combinations of railroad capital, and convention politicians, 
already his open and avowed enemies, were added those 
great corporations and individuals who would be taxed an 
additional four per cent because of the courageous Junior 
Senator from Mississippi. 



CHAPTER V. 
"The Ship Purchase Bill." 

"Courage, the highest gift, that scorns to bend 

To mean devices for a sordid end. 

Courage — an independent spark from Heaven's bright throne, 

By which the soul stands raised, triumphant, high, alo e. 

Great in itself, not praises of the crowd, 

Above all vice, it stoops not to be proud. 

Courage, the mighty attribute of powers above, 

By which the great in war, are great in love. 

— Farquhar. 



% 



HE bill generally known as t"he Shipping Bill, and 
'I, characterized during the Senatorial campaign of 1918 

as "The Ship Purchase Bill," was a measure that 
properly has had very little to. do with the record of James 
K. Vardaman. Peculiar circumstances so shaped matters 
that his connection with this Bill could be easily misrepre- 
sented, and cause the cotton growers of his own State to re- 
gard him with disfavor. As a matter of fact, the shipping 
bill had no more toi do with cotton growers than it had to do 
with the wheat growers or coal miners. 

It so happened that the price of cotton went down, in 
the fall of 1914, lower than it had been at any time within 
twenty years, and no one could give a definite reason as to 
the cause, except to say it was caused by the war. It was 
easy to say that the failure of the Ship Purchase Bill to 
pass, was due to the efforts, of Senator Vardaman, and was 
the cause of the low price of cotton. Because the shipping 
bill was under consideration at the same time cotton was 
low in price, it was easy to say the failure to pass the ship- 
ping law put cotton down. 



—67— 

This is the same bill that later, amended, gave us Hog 
Island and other similar scandals, and is now being decently 
laid away as the Shipping Board. All in all, it has caused 
the American people to expend money in excess of three 
billions of dollars, and it has no compensating features. 
Properly handled and managed, with right purposes, the 
shipping measure could have been made the beginning of 
a permanent change in our national policy. But it was 
not honestly managed, and was never intended to benefit 
the American people. 

To go back to the beginning, it will be recalled that 
the European war began about the 1st] of August, 1914, in- 
volving the Central European powers on the one side, and 
France, England and Russia upon the other. It naturally 
followed that all commerce with the belligerent countries 
was suspended for some months at least. The ships of Ger- 
many had, prior to this time, carried a large percentage 
of the commerce of the world. Immediately upon the out- 
break of the war, all these ships were withdrawn from com- 
merce. The ships of England and France were diverted from 
the regular channels of commerce fcr the purpose of con- 
veying troops and military supplies for their respective 
governments. Even if there had been ships there was no 
commerce to be had, because Russia, Poland, Germany and 
Austria were entirely cut off from communication with 
the outside world and did not, and could not, purchase any 
supplies, other than of a military character. 

France and England, of course, did not wish to pur- 
chase cotton, so long as they had a stock sufficient for their 
immediate needs on hand. Belgium was speedily over-run 
by German armies, and her factories stepped and, of course 
her commerce with the rest of the world put to an end. 
This condition which existed during practically all of the 
months of August, September, October, November and De- 



—68— 

cember, 1914, was used by the cotton speculators ( gamblers) 
to reduce the price of c:tton as low as possible. In other 
words, it afforded an ideal opportunity for the "bears" 
of the cotton market to run the price down. 

At the outbreak of the war a great many German ships 
were in the ports of this country, or convenient to our ports, 
and headed into them as a place of refuge. Accord- 
ing to long established policies of neutral nations during 
war, these ships were docked and interned in this country. 
They could not be used by Germany during the course of 
the war, and were not subject to use by the enemies of Ger- 
many. 

There was some talk at this time about the American 
government purchasing these ships and using them to 
carry our commerce to the different parts of the world. 
This argument however, was never used in any official 
statement, and was simply a matter of common talk 
among various groups of citizens. It was however, given 
some consideration by the advocates and the opponents of 
the proposed shipping law. It is rather significant that 
the bill to provide for the Merchant Marine was known as 
"The Ship Purchase Bill." If it were intended to purchase 
ships, there were none other available than the interned 
ships belonging to Germany and Austria-Hungary. 

The real purpose behind the proposed shipping bill was 
a desire, on the part of the American manufacturers to 
seize upon the foreign trade of Germany and England and 
France while those nations were out of the market; and 
a desire on the part of some financial gamblers to graft 
in the sale of ships. For many years there had been a 
growing desire upon the part of American manufacturers 
to compete with Germany in the markets of the world, 
particularly in the countries of South America and Asia. 



—69 — 



While engaged in the European War, Germany could 
not longer be a competitor, and American manufacturers 
quite naturally thought that this would be a good opportun- 
ity to enter the field. Their desire to bring the govern- 
ment into this scheme was two-fold: In the first place, 
the government would furnish a great deal of the money, 
and bear all the loss, should there be any, and very obliging- 
ly agree to accept none of the profits, should any be 
made. Congress was also te enter into an agreement that 
as soon as the business was established, and gotten upon a 
paying basis, the government would retire from the field. 
The second motive in bringing the government into the ven- 
ture was the fact that, with a great war raging and the 
war ships of the contending nations infesting, to some ex- 
tent, all the seven seas, the government being a partner 
m the business would naturally be an advantage in pro- 
tecting the ships and property from molestation. 

Then too, all the diplomatic and consular service of the 

nation would be used to the fullest extent in bringing about 

favorable treaties and reciprocal trade relations. This 

scheme was brought before Congress in the Autumn of 

1914 after the price of cotton had dropped. 

The enemies of Senator Vardaman have represented 
the Shipping Bill as having passed the House of Represen- 
tatives at this time, and as having been defeated in the 
Senate by his efforts in the fall of 1914. In order that the 
falsity of this statement may be clearly understoocd, it is 
only necessary to read the message of President Wilson to 
Congress on December 8th 1914. This address may be 
found in any number of publications, and in the Congression- 
al Record, 63rd Congress 3rd session, Vol. 52 page 26. In 
this address, President Wilson referred to the shipping bill 
which had been introduced in the House of Representatives 
some months prior to the meeting of Congress, and used 
these words : 



—70— 

"It is of equal consequence that the nations 
whom Europe has usually supplied with INNUM- 
ERABLE ARTICLES OF MANUFACTURE and 

commerce of which they are in constant need and 
without which their economic developments halts 
and stands still can now get only a small part of 
what they formerly imported and eagerly look to 
us to supply their all but empty markets." 

Nothing here to indicate that the ships were to carry 
cotton, but positive and direct proof that they were to carry 
articles of manufacture. Then read these words on the 
next page : 

"Hence the pending shipping bill, discussed in 
the last session but as yet passed by neither House- 
It will thus be seen that the President himself stated 
that this bill had been passed by neither House. This 
should forever dispose of the assertion that the bill was 
passed by the House of Representatives in the Fall of 1914. 
As a matter of fact, it was not recommended to Congress un- 
til the 8th of December, 1914. Bills were introduced in De- 
cember, 1914, in both Houses of Congress. The bill which 
was considered, and about which the fight was made, was 
Senate Bill Number 6856. It was reported out of the Sen- 
ate Committee, having it in charge, on December 16, 1914. 
The committee did not complete its Report on the bill, and 
file it (the report) with the Senate, until January 4th, 1915. 
The bill was not open for discussion, and in the ordinary 
course of legislation, could not be considered by the Senate 
until in January, 1915. To show the purpose of the bill, we 
may refer to President Wilson's addresses to the Congress 
in December 1914, and December 1915. After discussing 
at some length the necessity for ships of our own, he used 
these words : 

"'Moreover, we can develop no true or effective 
American policy without ships of our own, not 



—71— 

ships of war, but ships of peace, carrying goods and 
carrying much more: creating friendships and 
rendering indispensable services to all interests on 
this side of the water. They must move constant- 
ly back and forth between the Americas. They are 
the only shuttles that can weave the delicate fabric 
of sympathy, comprehension, confidence and mu- 
tual dependence in which we wish to clothe our pol- 
icy of America for Americans. 

The task of building up an adequate merchant 
marine for America, private capital must ultimate- 
ly undertake and achieve, as it has undertaken and 
achieved every other like task amongst us in the 
past. ****' But capital cannot accomplish this 
great task of a sudden. It must embark upon it by 
degrees, as the opportunities of trade develop. 
Something must be done at once; done to open 
routes and develop opportunities where they are as 
yet undeveloped ; done to open the arteries of trade 
where the currents have not yet learnd to run, es- 
pecially between the two American continents, 
where they are, singularly enough, yet to be cre- 
ated and quickened ; and it is evident that only the 
government can undertake such beginnings and 
assume the initial financial risks. When the risk 
has passed and private capital begins to find its 
way in sufficient abundance into these new chan- 
nels, the government may withdraw. But it can- 
not omit to begin. ***** with a view to meet- 
ing these pressing necessities of our commerce and 
availing ourselves at the earliest possible moment 
of the present unparalleled opportunity of linking 
the tivo Americas together with bonds of mutual 
interest and service, an opportunity which may 
never return again if we miss it now, proposals will 
be made to the present Congress for the purchase 
or construction of ships to be owned and directed 
by the government, similar to those made to the last 
Congress but modified in some essential particu- 
lars." (Message to Congress December 1915.) 

In accord with the recommendations of the President, 
there was introduced in Congress a Bill providing for the 



—72— 

establishment of the Shipping Board. This bill was, as 
we can see from the President's recommendation, intended 
to develop the commerce of the United States with ports 
where at that time there was none. In another part of his 

message, the President, in discussing this feature used the 
following words, after referring to the subsidizing of the 

transcontinental railroads of the country: 

"It may seem a reversal of the natural order 
of things, but it is true that the routes of trade 
must be actually opended * * * * *by many ships 
and regular sailings and moderate charges * * * * 
before streams of merchandise will flow freely 
throughly them." (Message to Congress Decem- 
ber, 1914.) 

The shipping bill was intended to benefit the manu- 
facturing interests of the country, and to aid these interests 
in pushing their foreign trade. These ships were to be used 

to carry goods from our ports to the ports of other neutral 
countries, particularly the South American countries, where 
we had no regular business built up. It was expected that, 
for some time, the cargoes carried would not be sufficient 
to defray the expenses of the voyages, but that by main- 
taining a regular schedule and making it possible for mer- 
chandise to be shipped to and from ports visited, that a pro- 
fitable busines would be built up. 

As a matter of fact, South America never did, and does 
not now, buy any cotton from the United States ; certainly 
she does not buy more than a few thousand bales annually. 
The ships provided would have been used to carry manu- 
factured goods to the South American ports, and to bring 
back raw materials, such as wool, hides, lumber, beef, etc. 

The bill, as originally introduced in Congress provided 
that the Government should contribute fifty one per cent of 
the capital stock of the shipping corporaion. It was to 
have, however, a minority of the directorate of the com- 
pany. The bill provided that the government would bear, 
out of its capital stock any losses which might be incurred 



—73— 

by the corporation. If the business became profitable, the 
government was to dispose of its stock to the other share 
holders, and retire. 

The bill contained no safeguards for the interests of 
the government. Provision was made for the purchase of 
ships and for their re-sale, no restriction being placed upon 
the price at which they should be bought or that at which 
they should be sold: Recalling certain ship purchases and 
sales made during the Spanish American war, Senator Var- 
daman proposed an amendment to the effect that no ship 
purchased by the government could be re-sold for less than 
seventy-five per cent of its purchase price. This amend- 
ment was rejected. This may be very forcibly brought to 
the attention of the American people by the fact that recent- 
ly, new ships which cost $260.00 a ton to build have been 
sold for $40.00 per ton, and in some instances, uncompleted 
ships have been sold for the sum of One Dollar. 

The original shipping bill was considered by the Senate 
during the Winter of 1915. Congress was preparing to ad- 
journ, and some of the Senators who opposed the passage of 
the shipping bill, late in February, 1915, arranged what is 
generally known as a filibuster, to defeat its passage. They 
arranged to speak until the session expired, and thus pre- 
vent the bill from coming to a vote. Senator Vardaman 
took no part in this filibuster, and did not occupy the time 
of the Senate for more than an hour in discussing the bill. 
On the contrary, he stayed in the Senate several nights in 
order to help make a quorum, so that the bill might be 
brought to a vote. 

It is therefore apparent that it is worse than foolish 
to say that the failure of the passage of the shipping bill 
could have affected the price of cotton in the fall of 1914. 
Cotton went down in August, 1914, and the shipping bill 
was not before the Senate until January, 1915, and was not 
ready to be voted on until late in the month of February. 
Had the bill passed on schedule time, it is inconceivable that 
the passage of a bill in February of 1915 could have prevent- 
ed a decline in the price of cotton in September, 1914. 



—74— 

But more than this, as has already been painted out, 
it was never the purpose of this measure to provide ships 
for the carrying of cotton to European ports. President 
Wilson said the ships were to carry "innumerable articles of 
manufacture." Had the bill passed in 1915, it is barely pos- 
sible that the shipping corporation could have purchased 
some of the interned German ships. Had they done this 
England would not have permitted the ships to be used in 
carrying cotton to Germany to be used in the manufacturing 
of powder for German guns. England' and France, our only 
possible customers, were at all times able to obtain in their 
own thi/>s all the cotton which they could use. Had the gov 
ernment attempteu tc build ships, and not purcna.si the in- 
terned German ships, it would have naturally required sev- 
eral years for yards to be built and ships completed, so the 
failure of the shipping bill to become a law in 1915, could 
not have affected the price of cotton in 1914. 

Another objection which Senator Vardaman had to the 
shipping bill, as originally proposed, was, that it violated 
the platform of the Democratic Party. In 1904, the Demo- 
cratic Party in convention assembled, in the City of St. 
i^ojis, adopted the following plank: 



"We denounce the ship subsidy bill recently 
passed by the United States, as an iniquitous appro- 
priation of public funds for private purposes, and 
a wastefid, illogical and useless attempt to over- 
come by subsidy the obstructions raised by Repub- 
lican legislation to the growth and development of 
American commerce on the seas. We favor the 
upbuilding of a merchant marine without new or 
additional burden upon the people and without 
bounties from the public treasury." 

At Denver, in 1908, the Democratic Party adopted this 
plank : 



—75— 

"We believe in the upbuilding of the American 
Merchant Marine, without new or additional bur- 
den upon the people and without bounties from the 
public treasury." 

At Baltimore, in 1912, the convention which nominated 
Woodrow Wilson for President adopted this plank : 

"We believe in fostering, by constitutional reg- 
ulation of commerce, the growth of a merchant ma- 
rine which shall develop and strengthen the com- 
mercial ties which bind us to our sister republics of 
the south, but without imposing additional burdens 
upon the people and without bounties and subsidies 
from the public treasury." 

In .the face of postive declarations from three Demo- 
cratic platforms, it is hard to conceive how any man loyal 
to the Democratic Party could advocate the passage of a bill 
formed as the original shiping bill was. It provided that 
forty million dollars be appropriated to begin the shipping 
business, and it carried with it the implied pledge that such 
additional amounts would be forthcoming as circumstances 
might require. 

The Democratic Party in convention assembled in 1916, 
reversed its attitude and declared for a shipping bill as pro- 
posed by the preceecling Congress. After this was written 
into the platform, Senator Vardaman changed his attitude 
somewhat and lent his efforts to the passage of a bill pro- 
viding for government operated ships, but so written as to 
preserve the interests of the people as far as possible. 

As evidence that he was not regarded as implacably 
hostile to the idea of a shipping bill, he was one of the mem- 
bers of a sub-committe appointed to draft the bill, the other 
two members being Senator Clarke, of Arkansas, and Sena- 
tor Reed, of Missouri. These three drafted a new law 
which, with some changes, was passed by the Senate in 



—76— 

August, 1916. This bill has been changed and re-changed 
from time to time, at each succeeding session of Congress. 
Anyone who wishes to follow the workings of. the Shipping 
Board can probably obtain from his Congressman copies of 
the Reports of the various Investigating Committees, ap- 
pointed to look into the affairs of the Shipping Board. 

Senator Vardaman, at the outset, predicted that if the 
Bill passed it would mean a direct loss to the tax payers of 
the country of one hundred million dollars. There has 
actually been lost a sum in excess of three billion dollars. 

As important, if not conclusive, evidence that the Ship- 
ping Bill was not for the purpose of building or buying ships 
with which to carry cotton, but for the purpose of subsidiz- 
ing the commerce of Big Business, let us consider further 
testimony given by President Wilson. Senator Ollie James 
of Kentucky read into the Record of the Senate (Cong. 
Record Page 3102, Vol. 52, 63rd Congress, 1915.) a news- 
paper interview with the President. One question ad- 
diessed to the President was as follows: 

"Mr. President, Judge Alexander said Satur- 
day, that his advices were that the emergency for 
it, (the ship pr chase bill) was over; that there 
were plenty of ships." 

The President's answer was as follows : 

PRESIDENT WILSON. "For the ordinary 
trade, yes; but that is not what it, (the bill) is for. 

It is CHIEFLY for the development of South 
American trade where it will be UNPROFITABLE 
for private capital to develop, and where we know 
for a certainty that private capital will not develop 
it." 

This statement from the President shows beyond a 
doubt that the shipping bill was not intended to benefit the 
farmers of the country. On the contrary it would have 
injured them by bringing in competing products. 



—77— 

The purpose was to subsidize trade routes by doing un- 
profitable things, and then when the trade was developed 
and the routes became profitable, turn the business over to 
the Manufacturing Interests of the country. It was a most 
pernicious scheme to subsidize both the shipping trust, and 
the manufacturers of the North and East, at the expense of 
the South and West. 

Much has been written and said about the shipping 
bill being for the benefit of the Southern cotton grow- 
er, and that the failure of the Bill to pass caused the price 
of cotton to drop. To meet this statement, flatly, the fol- 
lowing table of the prices of cotton is herewith given. Bear 
in mind these dates. The Ship Purchase Bill was recom- 
mended to Congress in December 1914. It was introduced 
into the Senate in December 1914, and brought before the 
Senate for consideration on January 4, 1915. The Bill fail- 
«!-i to pas by the expiration of Congress on March 4, 1915 
Bearing in mind these dates, observe the following cotton 
prices taken from the Commercial and Financial Chronicle, 
a financial journal published in New York : 

March 5, 1914 13.00 

April 3, 1914 13.30 

May 1, 1914 13.00 

June 5, 1914 13.65 

July 3, 1914 13.25 

August 7, 1914 No Market 

September 4, 1914 No Market 

October 2, 1914 No Market 

November 6, 1914 No Market 

December 4, 1914 7.50 

January 3, 1915 7.90 

February 6, 1915 8.65 

The above figures show that the price of cotton tum- 
bled at o:ice upon the declaration of war in Europe, and 



—78— 

there were no quotations until the latter part of November 
of that year. Cotton then began a steady climb, as shown 
by these figures : 

March 5, 1915 8.65 

April 3, 1915 9.80 

May 1, 1915 10.50 

July 3, 1915 9.60 

October 2, 1915 11.90 

December 4, 1915 12.45 

This upward tendency continued, except for a depres- 
sion immediately following the declaration cf war by this 
country, until it reached the maximum in June, 1920. 

The ship purchase bill failed to pass in March 1915. If 
it had any influence on the price of cotton the market re- 
ports do not reflect it. On the contrary there was a sharp 
upward incline at this time, putting the price from 8.65 on 
the day the bill failed to 9.80 in April and 10.50 in May. 

It is therefore wholly untrue that Senator Vardaman's 
opposition to the shipping bill put the price of cotton down, 
or influenced the price in any particular. 

The outstanding fact, is that had Senator Vardaman's 
views prevailed, the American people would have been 
saved in excess of three billions of dollars, that have been 
wasted, stolen, and squandered by those interested in one 
way or another with the shipping board and its contracts ; 
a sum amounting to approximately $30 for each man, wo- 
man and child in the United States, or $150 for each fam- 
ily of five persons. 



CHAPTER VI. 
The Flood Control Bill. 

"As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, 
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm. 
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, 
Eter.ial sunshine settles on its head." 

— Goldsmith. 

£^*" HE enemies of Senator Vardaman have often charged 
{gj, that he was without influence in the United States Sen- 
ate and bef ere he became a member of the Senate, the 
prediction was often made that he would never be able to 
accomplish anything for the people who sent him there. 
There are a great many measures that he was instrumental 
in pasing, and many, many things were done for which he 
deserves credit. Any Senator who is popular with his 
colleagues is enabled to do a great many more things for his 
constituents than he would otherwise be able to do for them. 
Reference is here made to the Flood Control Bill as being 
typical of a number of things done in the Senate by the 
Junior Senator from Mississippi. 

The so called Flood Control Bill was a measure pro- 
viding for Federal control and supervision over the build- 
ing of a system of levees for the protection of the alluvial 
lands along the Mississippi River. It did not carry an ap- 
propriation of money, but provided for government con- 
trol, and pledged the government to an expenditure within 
the next six years of the sum of forty-five millions of dol- 
lars for work on the levees. 

THis measure had been before Congress for a number 
of years in one form or another. There was an organiza- 



—80— 

tion known as the Mississippi Levee Association, with head- 
quarters at Memphis, Tennessee, which was one of a num- 
ber of similar organizations fighting for Federal aid in con- 
trolling the floods of the Mississippi River. All the Sena- 
tors from the river States were interested in the bill, parti- 
cularly all the members of Congress from Louisiana, Arkan- 
sas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri, to say nothing of 
the members whose homes were in the states along the Ohio 
and Missouri Rivers. 

Congressman Humphreys, of Mississippi, whose dis- 
trict was wholly within the Delta, was instrumental in se- 
curing the passage of the bill through the House. It was 
then sent to the Senate and took its place upon the calendar 
of that body. In the Winter of 1917, the Flood Control 
Bill was near the top of the calendar, but Congress was al- 
so near the end of its labors. The Bill had already passed 
the House of Representatives, but if it failed to pass the 
Senate before March 4th, it would be lost, because Congress 
would then adjourn, and when the next elected Congress 
assembled, it would be necessary to re-pass the Bill by the 
House cf Representatives. 

In the closing days of the session there was, as there 
always is, a number of important financial measures to be 
passed. One of these measures was the general revenue 
bill. But it so happened that this bill was farther down 
the calendar than the Flood Control Bill, and under the 
rules of the Senate, could not be considered except by the 
unanimous consent of the Senators present. Many of the 
Senators who were vitally interested in the Bill were hope- 
less of its passage. None of them undertook the leadership 
in the fight. 

A delegation from Mississippi was sent to Washing- 
ton to urge the passage of the Bill, and to stay there until 
results were secured. This committee was politically un- 



-81— 



friendly to Senator Vardaman, and contented itself with 
calling upon Senator Williams. He informed them that 
there was no chance for the passage of the bill, that Con- 
gress would soon adjourn, and that in the few days remain- 
ing it would be necessary to devote all of the time of the 
Senate to the consideration cf financial measures, lhe 
committee wired back home that the situation was hopeless, 
and that the bill could not be passed. 

Some of the members reluctantly called upon Senator 
Vardaman to ascertain if he would help them in the fight. 
To their surprise, they discovered that he was leading the 
fight for the passage of the Bill. When the general reve- 
nue bill was called up out cf order for discussion, Senator 
Vardaman objected, and until he withdrew his objection, 
the bill could not be considered. He told the Senate that he 
would not give his consent to the consideration of this bill 
unless the Senate would set aside four hours for the dis- 
cussion cf the Flood Control Bill. 

In this fight he had the right to expect that every Sen- 
ator from the states along the Mississippi River would give 
him his undivided support, but Senator Williams of Mis- 
sissippi threw his influence against the movement by pub- 
licly declaring that it was an outrage to hold up general 
legislation for the consideration of a local and private meas- 



ure. 



But Vardaman insisted that his bill must be considered 
before he would consent to the consideration of the general 
revenue bill. Accordingly, four hours was set aside for the 
consideration of the measure. This meant that the Senate 
would consider the bill for four hours, and if at the end ot 
that time a vote was not reached, it would be passed over, 
and the chance for its passage forever lost. 

A number of Senators spoke for and against the Bill, 
and along towards the end of the four hours, Senator Nor- 
ris of Nebraska, who entertained a warm personal friend- 



—82— 

ship for Vardaman, began a speech against the Bill which he 
intended to continue beyond the four hour limit, and thus 
defeat the measure. While Norris was discussing the Bill, 
and the minutes were hurrying by, Senator Reed, of 
Missouri, walked over and sat down in the seat by which 
Senator Norris was standing, and began in an undertone 
to urge him to sit down and permit a vote to be taken, call- 
ing the attention of Senator Norris to the anxious face of 
Senator Vardaman, and pleading with him, for his(Varda- 
man's) sake, to sit down and let the vote be taken. Norris 
reluctantly complied and the Clerk began to call the roll one 
minute before the expiration of the four hours. 

The bill was passed, because of the courageous efforts 
of the Junior Senator from Mississippi and the personal 
esteem in which he was held by the opponents of the meas- 
ure. 

In this connection it might be well to quote from a 
letter signed by Hon. A. S. Caldwell, President of the Mis- 
sissippi Levee Association, under the 'date of March 14, 1917. 
This was a circular letter addressed to all the members of 
the Missisippi River Levee Association. It started off by 
saying: 



"No doubt you have learned from the news- 
papers that the Flood Control Bill is now a law. 
The assumption by the Federal Government of the 
work of controlling floods in the lower Mississip- 
pi River makes it practically certain that the days 
of overflow have passed." 

Then, after stating that the work of the Association 
was done, and that its officers would proceed to wind up 
its affairs and the corporation be dissolved, Mr. Caldwell 
used the following words : 



—83— . 

"As the President of the Mississippi River Levee 
Association since its organization four years ago, 
I want to bear testimony to the members of Con- 
gress from Mississippi, but especially to the ser- 
vices of Senator James K. Vardaman, who, since 
the bill came to the Senate, has given special atten- 
tion to same, and has materially assisted in its 
passage." 

Mr. Caldwell did not see fit to mention the name of 
any other member of Congress, either Senator or Repre- 
sentative. This ought to be conclusive evidence that as a 
member of the United States Senate, Mr. Vardaman was 
able to accomplish some things for the people whom he rep- 
resented. 

Senator Vardaman not only received no help from Sen- 
ator Williams of Mississippi, but Williams was not even 
present to vote for the Bill. 

Owing to the participation of this country in the 
World War, the matter of levee protection was neglected 
by the Federal Government, and since the coming of peace, 
Mississipi has not had a Senator with influence in Congress 
to compel due attention to the levee system. But with the 
Flood Control Bill on the Statute Books, Federal aid is 
assured, and when a Senator with influence takes his seat 
from Mississippi, the danger of floods in the Yazoo-Missis- 
sippi Delta will be a thing of the past. 



CHAPTER VII. 
The Armed Neutrality Bill. 

"None of the prophets of old, 

So lofty or so bold! 
No form of danger shakes his dauntless breast; 

In loneliness sublime 

He dares confront the time, 
And speak the truth, and give the world no rest; 
No kingly threat can cowardice his breath." 

— Abraham Coles. 

HE armed Neutrality Bill was one of the measures 
ill about which Senator Vardaman has been severely 
criticised, and, in many respects, misrepresented. It 
will be recalled that on the first of February, 1917, President 
Wilson severed diplomatic relations with Germany, giving 
as his reason therefor the announced submarine warfare of 
Germany. Congress was then in session, and on the 26th day 
of February. President Wilson came before a joint session 
of Congress and asked for the passage of a bill authoriz- 
ing him "to supply our merchant ships with defensive arms, 
should that become necessary, and with the means of using 
them, and to empoly any other instrumentalities or methods 
thai may be necessary and adequate to protect our ships and 
our people in their legitimate and peaceful pursuits on the 
sea." 

The purpose of the armed neutrality bill was to author- 
ize the arming of American merchant ships engaged in 
European commerce, so that in the event they were attack- 
ed by a German submarine, the ships would be able to de- 
fend themselves. It was, of course, a very serious matter 
to arm the merchant ships and at the same time ask that 
they be treated as vessels of peace. A great many men 



—85— 



who were informed about such matters felt that if the mer- 
chant ships were armed, and actually fired upon a sub- 
marine, it would bring on a serious diplomatic situation 
even if it did not immediately precipitate war which at 
that time we sought to avoid. This was admitted by Presi- 
dent Wilson himself, in his message to Congress a litt.e more 
than a month later. 

Another of the principal objections to the bill was that, 
by Congress specifically authorizing the President to arm 
these ships, and placing American marines or sailors on 
board to man the guns, it might be construed as an act of 
war, and thus precipitate the conflict which we were then 
earnestly seeking to avoid. Another objection not so im- 
portant as the other two, was based upon the use of the 
words, used in the Resolution, "any other instrumentali- 
ties or methods:' Some of the Senators felt that this was 
too much like signing a blank check. 

It has been charged against Senator Vardaimui that he 
engaged in a filibuster against the passage cf the bill, and, 
second, that he voted against the bill. In order to set the 
record of Mr. Vardaman clearly before the reader, it is 
proper to state that neither of these charges was true. As 
a matter of fact, there was no filibuster against the passage 
of this measure. It was not recommended to Oangros by 
the President until the 26th day of February, 1917, and Con- 
gress expired by limitation on March 4th. President Wil- 
son was to be inaugurated for a second term, and a great 
m.iny officials necessarily had to be reappointed. This 
condition added to the usual rush and confusion incident to 
the adjournment of a legislative body. It should be borne 
in mind, also, that this marked the close of the term of one 
Congress, and of the presidential term, which created an 
unusual congestion of public business. There remained 
but six days for the consideration of this measure, and 



—86— 

the passage of hundreds of other bills necessary to be en- 
acted. 

Now, the accepted way of conducting a filibuster is for 
a majority of the Senators to absent themselves and thus 
break a quorum, or for a member or members opposed to 
the passage of a measure to obtain the floor and speak un- 
til the opposition is ready to pass over the consideration of 
the measure. Neither of these methods were indulged in 
by the opponents of the armed neutrality bill. From an 
examination of the record, it appears that almost as much 
time was occupied in speaking by the friends of the bill as 
by the enemies of the bill. During all these six days, Var- 
daman was in his place all the time that the Senate was in 
session, and occupied the floor only about fifteen minutes. 
Owing to the short time available for the consideration of 
the bill, it failed to pass. 

In his address recommending the adoption of the meas- 
ure, the President had used these words : 

"No doubt I already possess that authority 
without special warrant of law, by the plain im- 
plication of my constitutional duties and powers." 

In accordance with this idea, such of the merchant 
ships were armed as it was deemed advisable, but no event 
of any importance in regard to the arming of these ships 
happened. In his speech on March 2nd, Senator Varda- 
man said, in part, as follows : 

"/ will not consent that the President be given 
UNLIMITED POWER to do certain things ivhich 
we know if done will bring on ivar. * * * * I do 
not question the President's patriotism — that is 
not the issue. Nor would I derogate one iota from 
his intellectual attainments. * * * * I am not deal- 
ing with individuals. I am dealing with govern- 



—87— 

mental functions. The President of the United 
States is only a man ; with the same limitations, 
subject to the same influences that affect, move and 
actuate normal human creatures. There is no 
divinity hedging him about in his great office 
which renders him immune to the errors common 
to humanity. The responsibility for managing 
the affairs of this government, in desperate situa- 
tions such as confront us today, should be SHAR- 
ED by CONGRESS. For in the multitude of in- 
tellectual counsel there is safety,— there is wis- 
dom." 

One month later, to the day, in addressing Corgress, 
President Wilson stated, in effect, exactly what Vardaman 
had stated thirty days prior to that time. He used these 
words : 

"When I addressed the Congress on the 26th 
of February, I thought it would suffice to< assert 
our neutral rights with arms, our rights to use the 
seas against unlawful interference, our right to 
keep our people safe against unlawful violence. 
But ARMED NEUTRALITY, it now appears, is 
IMPRACTICABLE. The intimation is conveyed 
that the armed guards which we have placed on 
our merchant ships will be treated as beyond the 
pale of law and subject to be dealt with as pirates 
would be. Armed 'neutrality is INEFFECTUAL 
enough at best; in such circumstances and in the 
face of such pretentions it is worse than ineffect- 
ual • it is likely to produce what it ivas meant to 
prevent; it is PRACTICALLY CERTAIN TC 
DRAW US INTO THE WAR, without either the 
rights or effectiveness of belligerents." 

As a matter of fact, the Armed Neutrality Bill was of 
small moment one way or the other, from a political stand- 
point. About the only reason for its being made into an 
issue was for the purpose of injuring Senator Vardaman 
when he was a candidate for re-election in 1918, because 



—88— 

the President, in a moment of anger, spoke of those who 
had opposed the passage of the measure as "a little group of 
wilfull men." 

The proof that the Armed Neutrality Bill was unim- 
portant is supplied by the statement of the President that 
"the armed guards which WE HAVE PLACED ON OUR 
MERCHANT SHIPS will be treated as beyond the pale of 
the law and subject to be dealt with as pirates would be." 
The ships were armed, exactly as if the Armed Neutrality 
Bill had passed. Any advantage we might have reaped 
from it, was reaped. And the President himself confessed 
that it was a failure ; he used the words "ineffectual" and 
"impractical." 

The only censure Mr. Wilson's friends can apply to 
Senator Vardaman is that Vardaman knew the meaning of 
Armed Neutrality BEFORE it was tried, and Wilson did 
not learn that it was "ineffectual" and "likely to produce 
what it was meant to prevent," until AFTER it was tried. 
It is just another case of where there was a difference of 
opinion between the President and Senator Vardaman, and 
Vardaman was right and the President wrong. 

The President and Vardaman differed on Panama 
Tolls ; on the appointment of negroes to office ; on the sepa- 
ration of the races in the Federal Service; en the Shipping 
Bill; on Armed Neutrality; on War; on Conscription: on 
Free Speech ; and on the question of raising money to prose- 
cute the war. On each and every question Vardaman was 
right and the President wrong, and already time has proven 
it, in nearly every instance. Wilson has admitted his er- 
rors, by changing his position, time after time, just as he 
did in regard to Woman Suffrage, prohibition and the ex- 
cess profits tax. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
The Declaration of War. 

"The paths of Truth in every age have led men to 
Gethsemane- — to mocking and a cross, 
Its sacred light hath rent the veil behind 
Which error long has been concealed; and, though 
The priests of wrong have raged and sought to bind 
With thongs the souls of men, right on the tides 
Of truth have swept; nor mobs, nor hate, nor yet 
The Cross can stay the morning of its triumph." 

3* DISCUSSION of the reasons why the United States 
^\ entered into the world war can, at this time, and in 
this place, serve no good and useful purpose, nor 
can a discussion of the objects for which the war was pros- 
ecuted have any proper bearing upon political questions of 
today. The subject is introduced here not for the purpose 
of showing that this country ought or ought not to have 
entered into the war, but for the purpose of making it clear 
that an official or a private citizen of this country could 
have opposed going into the war, and at the same time have 
been a loyal and patriotic citizen. 

The further purpose of introducing this subject, is to 
refute the charge, so often made, that the subject of these 
sketches was guilty of treason when, as a member of the 
United States Senate, he voted against the declaration of 
war. 



To make clear the entire subject, it is thought well to 
review, briefly, the events leading up to the declaration of 
war by the United States in April, 1917, The Eu- 
ropean war, began in the first few days of August, 1914, 



—90— 

when the armies cf Germany started the march through 
Belgium to France. It is probably difficult, even at this 
day, to place the exact blame for the beginning of this con- 
flict. Certainly, the historians of the different nations 
involved are in no wise agreed upon the cause. 

To say that the assassination of the Austrian Arch- 
duke was the cause of the war would not be a complete 
statement of the case, because one of the facts now estab- 
lished is that the Central European Powers, as well as 
Russia, and to a lesser degree, Fmnce and England, had 
previously prepared for a war. The causes and factors 
that brought about conditions from which war was inevit- 
able were many and varied. 

Likewise, it might be said that it is difficult to deter- 
mine the fundamental causes of most of the wars about 
which we read in the histories of the world. We, in this 
country, are not yet fully agreed as to the cause of the Civil 
War. Some people yet assert that the war was for the 
purpose of liberating the slaves, when as a matter of fact, 
the war was not begun with any such purpose. Others as- 
sert that the war was begun to compel the seceding states 
to come back into the Union. The 1 Southern people are al- 
most unanimous in saying that the war was brought about 
by the North attempting to override their constitutional 
rights, and, further, attempting to force them back into a 
Union from which they had legally and constitutionally se- 
ceded. These things are mentioned here to show that peo- 
ple differ about the causes of war to a greater extent than 
upon almost any other historical subject. 

Reverting, however, to the European war, it will be 
recalled that very shortly after the beginning of the Eu- 
ropean struggle, President Wilson very properly declared 
that the policy of this country would be one of strict neutra 1 - 
ity, and urgently pleaded with his fellow citizens to be neu- 
tral even in their thoughts. He was thus in -accord with 



—91— 

the policy adopted by Washington and Jefferson, and fol- 
lowed by their successors for more than a hundred years. 

During the months of August, September ani October, 
of the year 1914, the Germans overran Belgium and North- 
ern France, and the atrocities alleged to have been commit- 
ted by the Germans were, most of them, committed 
during these three months. Yet, this country main- 
tained its neutrality, and did not go to war on account of 
these things. In the Spring of 1915, when the campaign 
was renewed, the Germans began the use of submarines, as 
a retaliatory measure against the blockade maintained by 
England which blockade the Germans contended was illegal. 

In May, 1915, the Lusitania was sunk and some one 
hundred and nineteen American citizens were drowned. At 
that time the daily press said the Lusitania was unarmed ; 
since it has been established in the Treasury Department 
that it was armed. This event caused considerable ex- 
citement in this country, and carried public sentiment fur- 
ther away from Germany. Following this, in the months 
and years that succeeded, other acts of like nature were com- 
mitted by Germany against the citizens and property of this 
country, and it might be said in passing, that the Allies 
also committed wrongs against American lives and property, 
all of which were made the subject of diplomatic negotia- 
tions between this country and the allied governments, and 
settled without war. 

When the political campaign of 1916 began, with Presi- 
ednt Wilson standing for re-election upon the Democratic 
ticket, the question of international relations assumed the 
first place in importance in the campaign. There had 
been a great deal of adverse criticism of Mr. Wilson's for- 
eign policy. As is the case in all similar situations, a con- 
siderable element of our population, and a number of our 



—92— 

newspapers were in favor of this country's entering the war 
if its full rights could not be maintained otherwise. Some 
wished this country to declare war, whether necessary or 
not. 

During all the trying months between August 1914, 
and the meeting of the Democratic National Convention in 
1916, President Wilson had pretended to be trying to keep 
this country at peace. He had settled all of the differences 
with the German Government by diplomatic negotiations, 
and had consistently urged his countrymen not to indulge 
in talk of war. 

Placed somewhat upon the defensive it will be recalled 
that he used the oft-quoted words that there is such a thing 
as being "tooi proud to fight;" and, upon another occasion, 
stated that we are "too right to fight." When the conven- 
tion met in the Summer of 1916, President Wilson was the 
leader of the peace party in the United States, while the Re- 
publicans were, roughly speaking, the leaders of the war par- 
ty. The keynote speech of the Democratic convention was 
delivered by Governor Glynn of New York. 

Bef:re he went to St. Louis he had a conference with 
President Wilson, and it is proper to assume that the key- 
note speech was considered and revised to meet the wishes 
of President Wilson, who was the only candidate put for- 
ward by the Democrats. When Governor Glynn delivered 
this speech, which is really one of the best political speeches 
made in many years, he declared that the paramount issue 
was the relations of this country to the European conflict. 
After reviewing the history of the United States in its in- 
ternational relations, and showing the traditional policy of 
this country, he set forth the policy of his party in these 
words : 

"First, that the United States is constrained 
by the traditions of its past, by the logic of its pres- 
ent and by the promise of its future,- to hold itself 



-93- 



apart from the European war, to save its citizens 
from participation in the conflict that now devas- 
tates the nations across the sea. 

"Second, that the United States, in its rela- 
tions with the European belligerents, must con- 
tinue the policy it has pursued since the beginning 
of the war, the policy of strict neutrality in rela- 
tion to every warring nation, the policy which 
Thomas Jefferson defined as 'rendering to all the 
services of courtesy and friendship, and praying 
for the re-establishment of peace and right . 

These words will be found on page 376 of the Demo- 
cratic Text Book. Following this, Governor Glynn dis- 
cussed the international relations of the United States from 
the end of the Revolutionary war, beginning with Washing- 
ton He showed that Washington, Jefferson, John Adams, 
Grant and Lincoln had all been able to preserve the honor 
of the Nation without resort to war. He defended with 
matchless logic the policy of President Wilson, and boldly 
declared that President Wilson had kept his country at 
peace and had preserved at all times the honor of the Nation 
On page 381 of the Democratic Campaign Text Book will 
be found the following peroration : 

"This policy may not satisfy those who revel 
in destruction, and find pleasure in despair it 
may not satisfy the fire-eater or the swash buckler 
But it does satisfy those who worship at the Altai 
of the God of Peace. It does satisfy the mothers 
of the land, at whose hearth and fireside no jingo- 
istic war has placed an empty chair. It does satis 
fv the daughters of this land from whom bluster 
and brag ifas sent no loving brother tc > the , disso- 
lution of the grave. It does satisfy the fathers 
of this land, and the sons of this land who will 
fieht for our flag and die for our flag, when 
ret on primes the rifle and honor draws the sword 
when justice breathes a blessing on the standards 
they uphold." 



—94— 

In addition to these utterances from the keynote speech 
of the Convention, the Democratic platform expressly ap- 
proved the policy of the President in remaining at peace, 
and on page 10 of the Democratic Campaign Text Book, 
under the head of "International Relations" we find the 
following language: 

"The Democratic administration has, through- 
out the present war, scrupulously and successfully 
held to the old paths of neutrality and to the peace- 
ful pursuit of the legitimate objects of our national 
life." 

Again, on page 25 of the Democratic Campaign Text 

Book, under the title of "Honor, Dignity, Peace," we find 
this statement: 

"Upon the record of the Democratic adminis- 
tration, which has maintained the honor, the dig- 
nity and the interests of the United States, and 
at the same time retained the respect and friend- 
ship of all the nations of the world * * * we ap- 
peal with confidence to the voters of the country." 

On page 41 of the Text Book begins a list of sixty-six 
specific achievements of the Democratic administration. 
The first of these has the title, in capital letters "PEACE," 
and reads as follows : 

"Maintaining national honor and dignity 
throughout, President Wilson has kept America at 
peace, safe in the midst of a world on fire and free 
to serve both the welfare of her own people and the 
broad cause of all humanity." 

On page 42 of the Text Book, under Item Five, we are 
informed that President Wilson has won the world's admi- 
ration, and forced all people to respect our rights, and has 
kept us at peace. On page 100 of the Text Book, we find 



—95— 

a chapter headed, with large capitals, "HOW PRESIDENT 
WILSON KEPT PEACE AND HONOR," and on the same 
page, we find these words: 

"Two years of war for Europe have been two 
years of peace for the United States. America's 
honor has been preserved." 

Furthermore, the Democratic Campaign Text Book has 
on its front page the motto, "PEACE WITH HONOR." And 
we all recall that the New York Democratic headquarters 
had stretched from the entrance a banner upon which were 
the words "HE KEPT US OUT OF WAR." 

President Wilson's speech of acceptance, printed in the 
Text Book, beginning on page 29 thereof, reiterates and con- 
firms the party's declarations. On page 34 of the Text 
Book, for instance, Mr. Wilson used these words : 

"We have been neutral not only because it was 
the fixed and traditional policy of the United 
States to stand aloof from the politics of Europe, 
and because we had no part, either of action or of 
policy, in the influences which brought on the pre- 
sent war, but also because it was manifestly our 
duty to prevent, if it were possible, the indefinite 
extension of the fires of heat and desolation kin- 
dled by that terrible conflict." 

These things are mentioned, not to reflect upon the pol- 
icy of Mr. Wilson, or of the Democratic party, but merely 
to demonstrate clearly that the position of the President 
and the Party, during the campaign of 1916 and up to the 
day of the election, was that we had properly kept cut of 
the European War and that we had fully maintained the 
honor and dignity of the United States. Those who say we 
had a cause for war prior to November 1916, raise the 



—96— 

issue of veracity between themselves on one side and Presi- 
dent Wilson on the other. 

In his message to Congress in December, 1916 Presi- 
Wilson discussed the war, and indicated that he would con- 
tiue the policy of neutrality. Later on in the month of Dec- 
cember, it became apparent that no decision would be 
reached between the belligerent nations before the begin- 
ning of winter. President Wilson perhaps wished to ascer- 
tain if it was possible for a peace to be negotiated, and 
accordingly, he addressed an Identic Note to all the belliger- 
ent Nations, asking them to state the objects of the war 
and to state upon what terms they would conclude a peace 
The replies to this note indicated that negotiations were not 
entirely hopeless, and there followed a further exchange of 
letters. 

Mr. Gerard, our Ambassador to Germany was sum- 
moned home during the month of December, and held a per- 
sonal conference with the President in regard to the Euro- 
pean situation. The allies were weary of the war, and this 
fact was known to the Central powers. There can be no 
doubt that they wanted a negotiated peace. In order to 
encourage peace talk, the President, on January 22nd, 1917, 
delivered to the United States Senate the greatest speech of 
his career, which has become famous as his "Peace with- 
out Victory" speech. 

Mr. Gerard returned to Berlin, and, on the 28th day of 
January, attended a banquet given by the Kaiser, von 
Terpitz, and other high German Officials. On this occa- 
sion, Mr. Gerard reviewed the relations of Germany with 
the United States, and showed that these relations had al- 
ways been peaceful, (the Manilla incident was doubtless 
forgotten.) Mr. Gerard then declared that the relations be- 
tween the two countries were "never better than now," and 




Major Jas. K. Vardaman 

(1898) 






pointed out and called oy name a numuei ui u Cl — ■ 
als and stated that, so long as these men remained at the 
head of the German Government, our relations with Ger- 
many would always be peaceful. These words by Mr. Gerard 
may be taken as so much "diplomatic moon-shine" but they 
at least indicated that we had peacably adjusted all our dif- 
ferences with Germany up to that time. Thus on January 
28, 1917, we had no cause for war, according to our Am- 
bassador. 

Germany at this time was conceded to have the stronger 
position in the war, but, owing to the blockade, she realized 
that to win the war she must win it quickly. The German 
leaders no doubt felt that the Allies were much nearer ex- 
haustion than they really were, and, on the first day of 
February, announced that thereafter all vessels found in the 
areas around Great Britain and France would be sunk with- 
out warning. This was what was known as the "ruthless 
submarine campaign." Instead of this measure striking 
terror into the hearts cf the Allies, it apparently served 
only to nerve them to greater efforts, and at the same time, 
crystalized the neutral opinion of the world against Ger- 
many. 

President Wilson formally severed diplomatic relations 
with Germany, and recalled our Ambassador and our Con- 
suls from Germany and gave Ambassador Bernstorf his 
passports. Matters continued in this state during the 
months of February and March of 1917. President Wilson 
then convened Congress, in Extraordinary Session, on the 
second clay of April, 1917, for the purpose of making a 
formal declaration of war against Germany. 

It might be proper to state here that in his message to 
Congress on February 26th, 1917, in regard to the arming 
of our merchant ships, the President stated then that war 






—98— 

against Germany was not contemplated. In his inaugural 
message, on March 4th, 1917, he still spoke cf his hope to 
keep this country at peace. 

It should be borne in mind that whatever acts of war 
Germany had committed against this country so far as the 
people know, had all been committed prior to the political 
campaign of 1916, and from that date until the declaration 
of war by this country, it is doubtful if any overt acts were 
committed by the German Government against this country. 
Some American ships were sunk in March 1917, whether 
by German submarines or by mines, is still a controverted 
issue, and about five American lives were lost. These acts 
were not assigned as a cause for war by President Wilson 
in his special Message of April 2, 1917, nor in any of his 
later speeches. In fact no official, speaking for the United 
States, assigned these sinkings as a cause for war. In his 
address en the Armed Neutrality, Bill President Wilson 
said : ''This in itself might presently accomplish in effect 
what the new German submarine orders were meant to ac- 
complish, so far as we are concerned. We can only say, 
therefore, that the overt act which I have ventured to hope 
the German commanders would in fact avoid, has not oc- 
curred," 

It should also be borne in mind that we had lost a num- 
ber of ships prior to March 1917, and about 250 of our 
citizens had lost their lives as a result of the war. Yet, 
President Wilson had kept out of the war, and had insisted 
that he had preserved the peace and maintained the honor 
of the country. It was not unreasonable to assume that he 
might continue to do so. However, the President changed 
his mind at this time, and asked for a declaration of war. 
All who did not immediately change their minds along with 
the President, were denounced as pro-German. 



—99— 

The reader is not to infer that this country did not 
have just cause for war against Germany. We had that 
cause as a result of several things that happened. We 
elected to settle our wrongs by arbitration, until April 2, 
1917. Necessarily, there was a difference of opinion as to 
when we should change from arbitration to war as a method 
of settling our differences. Senator Vardaman favored 
continuing arbitration, but when war was declared, he then 
favored prosecuting the war to a successful conclusion. 
Speaking before the Mississippi Legislature in 1918, he il- 
lustrated this by the splendid statement: "Statesmen can 
afford to differ but patriots cannot." 

The President was the leader of the peace party, and 
had, for more than two years, been the spokesman for this 
party. His sudden change of front, without publicly making 
known the reasons for that change, did not cause all his 
peace followers immediately to change their views to keep 
pace with his. The point which is made is, that an American 
citizen is not a traitor because he failed to change his mind 
on the same day that the President changed his. As a 
matter of record, six United States Senators and fifty mem- 
bers of the House of Representatives voted against the 
declaration of war. Among this number were Speaker 
of the House, Champ Clark, and Democratic Floor Leader, 
Claude Kitchin. 

The causes of the war, as before stated, are immaterial, 
but it might be interesting to state some of the varying rea- 
sons assigned for our entrance into the war. Congress, in 
its declaration, used the following language : 

"Whereas the Imperial German Government 
has comitted repeated acts of war against the Gov- 
ernment and the people of the United States of 
America. * * *" 



—100— 

Therefore, our official reason for entering the war was 
that Germany had committed acts of war against this gov- 
ernment and its people. Others asserted that the war was 
for the purpose of protecting American rights upon the 
seas. Others asserted that we were making war against 
Germany to prevent her from dominating the world. Later 
on, the slogan was that "we had gone into the war to (t/ make 
the world safe for democracy." Others asserted that we 
went into the war because of the outrages committed in 
Belgium and France. But, all these controversial matters 
are not germane to the point at issue. 

Senator Vardaman voted against the declaration of 
war because he felt that, since we had maintained peace 
for nearly three years, and had at the same time preserved 
the honor and maintained the rights of the Nation, that we 
might continue to do so. He had personally been through 
one war and knew much of the suffering and sacrifice that 
was necessary to carry on the grim business-. His plea 
was that we contiue our policy of neutrality and attempt 
the maintenance of our rights by diplomacy. He made a 
short speech on the resolution declaring a state of war, on 
April 4th, 1917. This may be found in the Congressional 
Record of that date. A reading cf that speech ought to be 
sufficient to convince anyone that it was not the utterance 
of one disloyal to his country. The concluding paragraph 
of that speech is given here, as follows : 

"Mr. President, I am not going to vote for 
this resolution. I do not believe that it is neces- 
sary to go to war in order to bring about a settle- 
ment of this desperate trouble with honor to 
America, but I am not going to interfere with or 
delay in any way the final consideration of the 
resolution. I want Congress to act upon it, and 
act upon it right now. I have no doubt about its 



— 101 — 

passage, and for that reason I am overwhelmed 
with a sense of anxiety, not for myself, not for 
any individual, but for the welfare of all the peo- 
ple, and especially the great toiling masses of 
America, upon whom will fall the larger part of 
the burden. When the resolution shall pass, we 
will be in a state of war with Germany. Every 
American citizen will then be called upon to go to 
the defense of the flag, and I trust he will re- 
spond promptly to the demands of the hour, and 
if need be, give his life and his all to uphold the 
Nation's cause. I shall vote to give the President 
men and money to the last citizen able to bear 
arms and every dollar that shall be necessary 
to meet the expenses of the war. I shall do more. 
My own services shall be offered to do whatever 
may be necessary within my power in support of 
my country's cause. I trust there will be no break 
in the ranks, no hesitating, no question, but that 
all Americans may present a solid, invincible front 
to the common enemy. I have hoped, I repeat, 
that the. question might be settled peaceably by 
negotiations, but when the Congress decides that 
only by the arbitrament of the sword it shall be 
settled, then to that task we will devote our hands, 
our heads, our hearts, and the products of our 
toil. May the God of nations in His infinite wis- 
dom lead the Congress and the American people 
safely through the dark and perilous valley which 
our country is called upon at this time to pass. 
I do love — 

My country's good, with a respect more ten- 
der, more holy and profound than my own life. 
And to her service I hereby dedicate my life and 
all that I possess." 



—102— 

Thus we see the principal events leading up to the 
declaration of war. We see that the Democratic Party 
and the Democratic President stood for peace, and in- 
sisted that the nation's honor had been preserved and its 
rights and dignity safeguarded, without recourse to war. 

Up to the National Election in November 1916, the 
entire Democratic Party, shouted with one voice, that 
Peace was .the proper and only policy, and maintained 
that the Democratic Party had kept us out of the war, 
WITH HONOR. 

The entire Democratic Party, from Wilson on down, 
insisted that Germany had done no wrong to this country 
that had not been honorably adjusted. 

In January 1917, Wilson said we were neutral, and 
on good terms with all nations, ready to serve all. 

On January the 28th, 1917, Ambassador Gerard pub- 
licly stated that our relations with Germany "were never 
better." 

On the 26th of February, 1917, in urging the Armed 
Neutrality Bill, Wilson stated that he was not contemplat- 
ing war. 

On April the 2nd, Wilson asked for a declaration of 
war, and necessarily repudiated all that had gone before. 
To justify that position it was necessary to go as far back 
as the Lusitania incident and bring that forward as a 
cause of war. 

President Wilson, and his entire following, performed 
a complete intellectual somersault. This was bad enough 
in itself, but they did not stop there, but immediately be- 
gan to denounce everybody who did not perform the same 
stunt as a "Traitor", and a "Pro-German". 



—103— 

The difficulty should be in understanding the change 
of Wilson, and not in the refusal of the peace advocates to 
recede from a position, taken logically, and approved by a 
majority of the voters of the country. 

Those who favored the declaration of war, have the 
task of putting themselves in accord with the Democratic 
platform of 1916. The peace advocates stood upon that 
platform, and voted to keep faith with the American peo- 
ple, who had voted to remain at peace. Upon, every issue 
that is raised the Democratic Platform of 1916 is wholly 
upon the side of the peace party. It was Wilson and his 
followers who repudiated the party declaration, just as 
they did upon the question of Panama Tolls ; a one term 
President, and other questions. 

Our cause for war against Germany is not under dis- 
cussion ; the Democratic Party had stood for peace, and 
every Democrat was bound by that platform. Those who 
voted for peace, voted in accord with the platform of their 
party, and the expressed wish of the people. They need 
no defense ; all they need is the simple telling of the truth. 

The following essay is appended here because of its 
splendid logic and sound common sense: 

"To-day force is called violence, and begins 
to be judged; war is arraigned. Civilization, 
upon the complaint of the human race , orders the 
trial, and draws up the great criminal indictment 
of conquerors and captains. This witness, His- 
tory, is summoned. Reality appears. The fac- 
titious brilliancy is dissipated. In many cases, 
the hero is a fepecies of assassin. The peoples 
begin to comprehend that increasing the magni- 
tude of a crime cannot be its dimunition; that if 
to kill is a crime, to kill much cannot be an ex- 



—104— 

tenuating circumstance; that if to steal is a shame, 
to invade cannot be a glory; that Te deums do not 
count for much in the matter; that homicide is 
homicide; that bloodshed is bloodshed; that it 
serves nothing to call one's self Caesar or Napo- 
leon ; and that in the eyes of the eternal God, the 
figure of a murderer is not changed because, in- 
stead of a gallow's cap, there is placed upon his 
head an emperor's crown. 

"Ah! let us proclaim absolute truths. Let 
us dishonor war. No ; glorious war does riot ex- 
ist. No; it is not good, and it is not useful, to 
make corpses. No ; it cannot be that life travails 
for death. No; oh, mothers who surround me, 
it cannot be that war. the robber, should continue 
to take from you your children. No; it cannot 
be that women should bear children in pain, that 
men should be born, that people should plow and 
sow, that the farmer should fertilize the fields. 
and the workmen enrich the city, that industry 
should produce marvels, that genius should pro- 
duce prodigies, that the vast huma.: activity 
should in the presence of the starry sky. multiply 
efforts ar.d creations, all to result in that fright- 
ful international eruption which is called a field 
of battle." 

— Victor Hugo. Oration on Voltaire. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Espionage Laws. 

t HE soca. - ; Z 

ti ~ ted by Congress di rid 

W ^ - which rame 

,oa^to> --- Theoppos 

man to the I - ?e of th 
sed against him poW time when the 

of all the progress! 

erica who had gone before 

The only other time that - ed t0 

eE -eh measure- .- iring the administ of 

sident John Adams when the infamous Alien and - 
tion laws were passed. The opposition to them was lea 

re ffera no defeated the Federalist candidate tor 

Widen:, on this issoe and who immediately after his in- 
jured the repeal of the obnoxious mens 
and pardoned all the persons who had been cor. under 

the provisions of the laws. So unpopula these la 

that the Federalist Party never recovered from the od: 
of interfere \ freedom of speech and of the press 

To get a true idea of what a law governing the freedom 
of speech and of the press means, it is nece- to rev 

the beginnings of our government. In the first place, one s 



—106— 

right to speak his thoughts are clearly as inalienab'e as his 
right to think. The process of thinking is so closely related 
to the act of expression that they both go hand in hand. 
There was a time in the history of the world when men 
were actually forbidden the right to think and when sus- 
pected of having heretical thoughts were tortured until 
they confessed, and then punished because of their 
thoughts. 

No limitation can rightfully or legally be put upon 
speech. But laws may be enacted to authorize the bring- 
ing of suits for libel and damages, where one individual 
makes untruthful and malicious statements that injure or 
damage the reputation or property of another individual. 
These limitations must be imposed by the States, because 
Congress cannot legislate on the subject at all. It should 
always be kept clearly in mind that espionage laws and se- 
dition laws, are not intended to protect the individual citi- 
zen, but are intended to protect some intangible, undef inable 
something, which the proponents of the laws term "the 
government." The theory of "libeling the government" is 
arrived at by substituting "government" for the word 
"king," words that are in no sense interchangeable, unless 
we accept the doctrine of "the divine right of kings." 

When the Federal Constitution was written, Mr. Jef- 
ferson was in France, as our Minister. When he returned, 
during the time when the Constitution was being adopted 
by the states, he insisted that it did not fully safeguard the 
rights of the States and the citizens thereof in a number of 
respects. One of the defects which he pointed out in the 
new Constitution was that it did not specifically guarantee 
the right of free speech. 

Mr. Hamilton, and other proponents of the constitu- 
tion, argued that the Federal Government was the creature 



—107— 

of the thirteen several States, and could exercise no powers 
except those expressly delegated to it by the Federal Con- 
stitution. Mr. Hamilton and his followers took the ground 
that it was not necessary to refer to the rights of the indi- 
vidual citizens or of the States, because they had those 
rights unless the Federal Constitution specifically delegated 
them to Congress and enumerated them among the powers 
of Congress. But Mr. Jefferson correctly argued that it was 
safer to have these rights specifically set out in the Consti- 
tution and reserved to the people. The last of his proposed 
ten amendments reads as follows : 

"The powers not delegated to the United 
States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to 
the States, are reserved to the States respectively, 
or to the people." 

The first amendment which he proposed reads as fol- 
lows : , 

"Congress shall make no law respecting an 
establishment of religion or prohibiting the free 
exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of 
speech or of the press or the right of the people 
peacably tjo assemble and petition the government 
for a redress of grievances." 

This is the First Amendment to the Federal Constitu- 
tion, and it will be noted that it positively forbids Congress 
making any law abridging the freedom of speech or press. 
In other words, Congress is forbidden to legislate on this 
subject at all. All our great statesmen have insisted that 
the freedom of speech and of the press should be held invio- 
late and that everyone might freely speak whatever he felt 
inclined to speak. Mr. Jefferson said that errors of opin- 
ion might be freely tolerated, where truth was free to com- 
bat them. In his famous Statute for Religious Freedom, 



—108— 

enacted by the Virginia Legislature in 1779, he used these 
words : 

"It is time enough for the rightful purposes of 
civil government for its officials to interfere when 
principles break out into overt acts against peace 
and good order." 

President Wilson, in his book "Constitution Govern- 
ment in the United States" firmly held to the view that 
every person should be permitted at all times to write and 
speak whatsoever he pleased. In one place he uses these 
words : 

"We are so accustomed to agitation, to abso- 
lutely free, outspoken argument for change, to an 
unrestricted criticism of men and measures, car- 
ried almost to the point of licence that to us it 
seems a normal, harmless part of the familiar pro- 
cesses of popular government. We have learned 
that it is pent-up feelings that are dangerous, 
whispered purposes that are revolutionary, covert 
follies that warp and poison the mind; that the 
wisest thing to do with a fool is to encourage him 
to hire a hall and discourse to his fellow citizens. 
Nothing chills nonsense like exposure to the air ; . 
nothing dispels folly like publication; nothing so 
eases the machine as the safety valve. Agitation 
is certainly of the essence of a Constitutional sys- 
tem ; but those who exercise authority under a non- 
constitutional system fear its impact with a cons- 
tant dread and try by every possible means to 
check and kill it, partly no doubt because they 
know that agitation is dangerous to arrangements 
which are unreasonable, and non-constitutional 
rule is highly unreasonable in countries whose 
people can express such common thoughts and con- 
trive such concert of action as make agitation for- 
midable." 

Constitutional Government in the United States 
Page 38. By Prof. Woodrow Wilson — Columbia Universi- 
ty Press, 1911. 



—109- 

This was written at a time when the United States was 
at peace, yet it is a fact that the Constitution is in force 
during times of war as well as during times of peace, and 
if it be legal for a person to speak his mind in times of 
peace it is likewise legal for him to do so during times of 
war. 

The espionage laws enacted by Congress in 1917-18 
were the most far reaching, and imposed the severest pen- 
alties, of any law enacted by any Anglo-Saxon people. They 
were not surpassed in barbarity ever, by the espionage laws 
of Russia under the Czar, and those of Imperial Germany 
and Austria. Sentences of twenty years were provided for 
certain words which might be uttered by citizens of this 
country. Senator Vardaman's arguments were that such 
laws were both unconstitutional and unnecessary, and there- 
fore would do more harm than good ; and that if the people 
were permitted to say whatever they pleased, the foolish 
talk would be discounted and no harm would result. 

He said that the American people were the sovereigns 
and the rulers of the country, and that all power came 
from them ; that if the rulers did not have sense enough and 
were not wise enough to manage their own affairs, then the 
republic was a failure. He said that if any person resisted 
the enforcement of any law, that that was already a crime. 
and if one or more persons organized themselves for the 
purpose of resisting the law. it would be conspiracy and 
punishable by existing statutes. Because of these views he 
opposed the passage of the various laws infringing upon the 
rights of freedom of speech, press and assemblage. Var- 
daman simply voted to maintain the Constitution :f the 
United States which he had sworn with uplifted hand to 
"defend and protect" ; and to maintain the rights of Ameri- 
cans, won in bloody war, and stoutly asserted by Anglo- 
Saxons for a thousand years and more. His opposition to 



— 110 — 

the Espionage Laws, constitute the most valuable public 
service that Vardaman rendered to the American people. 
He deserves the support of all lovers of liberty. 

Lord Coke, the celebrated English jurist, successfully • 
maintained that words were not acts. In the book English 
Liberties by Henry Care and William Nelson, page 69, we 
find this statement: "It icas icont to be said that bare 
words may make a heretic, but not a traitor without art 
overt act." 

Yet our espionage laws solemnly assumed to make 
words a crime, and to punish people for speaking bare 
words. Some of the enemies of Senator Vardaman actually 
undertook to argue that words could be treason, notwith- 
standing the fact that the Constitution defines treason as 
bearing arms against this country, adhearing to its enemies 
giving them aid and comfort. Authorities for the state- 
ment that words cannot be a crime are so numerous that 
citation is unnecessary. And reason clearly and wholly 
supports the position. 

The importance of unlimited and unrestricted freedom 
of speech and press cannot be too strongly emphasized. It 
is everywhere acknowledged as essential to the conduct of 
free government. Speaking of this Judge Cooley, in his 
work Constitutional Limitations, page 518, Fourth Edition, 
says: 

"The first amendment to the Constitution of 
the United States, provides, among other things, 
that Congress shall make no law abridging the 
freedom of speech or of the press. With jealous 
care of what is almost universally regarded as a 
highly important right, essential to the existence 
and perpetuity of free government, a provision of 
similar import has been embodied in each of the 



— in- 
state is and a co: ?le 
is then -bed which is supp - ■ to f orr. 

eld of protection to the free e:. -ion of op: - 
ion in e .and. 

Let us note tiu e Cons" :n of the United States 
s that, shaU o laws ***** abridgi 

- speech or oj tiu t ~--- meaning of 

"abridging :h that we know that 3n 

recog: freedom of speech and press already ed. 

:.n never created freedom of speech or of 
press; it never gave to the citizen something he did not 
pos- ess It no more created freedom c: speech 
created trial by jury. As a r.:a"er of fact the Federal 
Co: ion confers no rights upon the v - It d 

ertair ::d confer them up rderal 

Congress, jnsl away certain of the rights and 

power a : the states, vests them in the Federal Con- 

gre— . All other rights are specially n ed to the states 
or the people thereof. 

Any and every right of the people or of the states not 
specifically delegated to Congress is :-f eoorw still in the 
or thr states To illustrate: If a man gave his 
neighbor a cow, H -vould gi y e his neighbor hat- 

ever to the other c wa -till owned by the gi ft is ^re- 

fore clear that because we have given the Federal Govern- 
ment certain righ - do not lessen ou: 
granted away. This principle has been everywhere admit- 
- - 1 But Mr. Jefferson insisted that the :ion n: 
ate this principle, and his ten amending ere adop 
for this purpo— 

The Cc :ion not only has a negal 

that it has no right to interfere with speech or pre— 
has apo declaration to that effer he first amend- 



—112— 

ment. Any law that Congress enacts in regard to speech 
and press is void, and is not law at all. 

We then come to the question: "What is freedom of 
speech and of the press?" To answer this question, we 
need go no further than to define "free". And free means 
without restrictions, without limitations. If we have the 
right of free speech, we have the right to speak our thoughts 
upon any subject to any and all persons. 

Every person naturally possesses this right, just as 
much as he possesses the right to breath or see or hear or 
think. It is God-given, and cannot be lawfully taken away. 
It is an inherent right, and no person can himself dispose 
of the right; it is a part of himself. 

Tyrannical governments, from time to time, punished 
people for expressing their thoughts; and instances are 
not rare, where governments have actually punished peo- 
ple for having thoughts. 

The British government exercized a censorship over 
speech and press from the time of the Norman Conquest 
on down. This form of tyranny came in with the French, 
who had received it from Rome. The origin of such laws 
were ecclesiastical, and date far back into prehistoric 
times. The cause for laws against free speech are simple. 
When some person with a bold and reasoning mind, attack- 
ed the gods which were set up by the priests, the natural 
thing was to make such a person step talking. That method 
is always practiced by persons unable to maintain their 
position by argument. 

But, be it said to their credit, that the Saxons never 
originated laws against the exercise of speech, and all laws 
on this subject are of pagan origin, coming down to us 



—113— 



through Rome and her creeds. The freedom loving Saxons 
always opposed them. 

Thus at the out-break of the Revolutionary War the 
Colonies were subject to the censorship laws of England 
One of the causes of the Revolution were these same laws 
laws which Englishmen in every age had protested against 
and defied The Revolution was for the purpose of secur- 

a J • • „„ + ho riaht^ for which Englishmen in 

ing and enjoying all the riglits jor n uo y 

England and America had contended for hundreds o 
years. Thus when the Revolution was successful the Col- 
onists had abrogated and destroyed every unjust law then 
in existence, and which they had objected to. 

No man can deny that the Colonists were entirely free 
from laws against free speech and press from the end of the 
Revolution to the forming of the Constitution. 

When the Constitution was framed by the Convention 
in 1787, nothing was in that document denying the right of 
all citizens to freedom of speech and press. But it did not 
stop there, the first Amendment forbade Congress to make 
any law abridging that freedom. The Constitution does 
not say "further abridging," but admits that there were no 
existing restrictions, when it used the word "abridging. 
The Constitution, therefore, guarantees to us freedom ol 
speech and of the press. It cannot be stated m stronger 
terms. If we haven't freedom of speech and press, then the 
Revolution was fought in vain. 

The only occasion when even a civil action may law- 
fully be maintained against a person for any utterance is 
where falsehoods are spoken which injure another. This 
is to be clearly distinguished from a public wrong, which 
makes an ACT a crime. Judge Cooley, in his work on the 
Constitution, quoted above, at page 527 uses these words: 



—114— 

"The Constitutional liberty of speech and of 
the press, as we understand it, implies a right to 
freely utter and publish whatever the citizen may 
please, and to be protected against any resonsibili- 
ty for so doing. ******* Or, to' state the same 
thing in somewhat different words, we understand 
liberty of speech and of the press to impiy not only 
liberty to publish, but complete immunity from 
legal censure and punishment for the publica- 
tion. *****" 

The reader will note that Judge Cooley is not clear in 
the above statement. He speaks of the Constitution as he 
"understands it", and jSays it IMPLIES a right to freely 
utter and publish whatever the citizen may please. The 
Constitution does not imply at all, but guarantees the right 
and recognizes the fact that Congress has no power to legis- 
late on the subject. As before stated, the Constitution 
never granted any rights to the citizen. The rights pre- 
existed the Constitution ; but the Constitution recognizes 
the rights as existing, and guarantees that the government 
of the United States will hold the right of speech, press and 
assemblage inviolate. 

On page 537 Judge Cooley says : 

"Repression of full and free discussion is 
dangerous to any government resting upon the will 
of the people. The people cannot fail to feel that 
they are deprived of rights, and will be certain to 
become discontented, when their discussion of pub- 
lic measures is sought to be circumscribed by the 
judgment of others upon their temperance or fair- 
ness. They must be left at liberty to speak with 
the freedom which the magnitude of the supposed 
wrongs appears in their minds to demand ; and if 
they exceed all the proper bounds of moderation, 
the consolation must be, that the evil likely to 
spring from the violent discussion will probably 
be less, and its correction by public sentiment 
more speedy, than if the terrors of the law were 
brought to bear to prevent the discussion." 



— 115 — 

Recurring to the Constitution on free speech, let us 
again quote Judge Cooley: 

"We shall venture to express a doubt if the 
common-law principle on the subject can be con- 
sidered as having been practically adopted in the 
American States. It is certain that no prosecu- 
tion could be maintained in the United States 
courts for libels on the general government, since 
those courts have no common-hue jurisdiction, and 
there is now no statute, and never was except dur- 
ing the brief existence of the Sedition Law, which 
assumed to confer any such power." 

"The Sedition Law was passed during the ad- 
ministration of the elder Adams, when the fabric 
of government was still new and untried, and 
when many men seemed to think that the breath 
of heated party discussions might tumble it about 
their heads. Its constitutionality was always dis- 
puted by a large party, and its impolicy was be- 
yond question. It had a direct tendency to pro- 
duce the very state of things it sought to repress; 
the prosecutions under it were instrumental, 
among other things, in the final overthrow and 
destruction of the party b y which it was adopted, 
and it is impossible to conceive at the present time, 
of any such things as would be likely to bring 
about its re-enactment, or the passage of any simi- 
lar repressive statute." Constitutional Limita- 
tions, page 535. 

Judge Cooley was the greatest Constitutional authority 
in America. He was not a radical, and his writings are not 
open to question on the ground of personal feelings. He 
makes it clear that the Federal Courts have no common-law 
jurisdiction, and could not therefore hear a suit on the free 
speech issue. And since Congress is forbidden to pass the 
law, the Courts can under no circumstances lawfully permit 
such an action to be brought before them . 



— 116 — 

It will be noted that Judge Cooley refers to the first 
Sedition Law, and its fatal effect on the Federalist Party. 
He also cannot conceive of anything that would cause such 
laws to be again enacted by Congress. But such laws were 
enacted in 1917, and made more stringent in 1918. These 
later laws were far more drastic than the old Sedition laws 
enacted during President Adam's administration. And it 
is interesting to note that the Democratic Party came into 
power under the leadership of Jefferson because it opposed 
the Sedition Laws, and went out of power under the leader- 
ship of Wilson, because it enacted more drastic sedition 
Laws than the elder Adams had dared ask for. 

The demand for laws against free speech and a free 
press, nearly always arises from a feeling of inferiority on 
the part of those who want the laws. The man with a bad 
cause feels that he cannot maintain it in argument, and 
hence he wants the opposition silenced. The pagan priest 
with a religion and a god that would not bear discussion, 
naturally wanted a censor to prevent any exposure of his 
fraud. Modern priests and politicians with creeds or doc- 
trines that are opposed to reason, wish laws to prevent 
opposition. 

Woodrow Wilson, in his book quoted above, admits as 
much when he says that "those who exercise authority un- 
der a non-constitutional system" fear the impact of public 
opinion. But turn back and read the quotation from his 
book. 

Historical examples are numerous and conspicuous. 
When the Christ was before the high priest he was asked 
certain questions. His answers confounded the priest, and 
one of the officers struck Jesus "with the palm of his 
hand" Jesus answered this: "If I have spoken evil, bear 



—117— 

witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?" 
(John 18:23.) 

That is the best argument for free speech ever made. 
Read it, and think it over. Christ simply said, in other 
words, If I have taught evil, prove it, and I will be discredit- 
ed and there is no need for anything else to be done. If 
I have taught good, why should I be punished? Here is the 
old, old story of the censor. When you corner a partisan, 
and he finds himself without an answer, and confronted 
with the truth, he is ready to appeal to force, and smite you 
"with the palm of his hand." 

Another historical character who was killed for the 
exercise of free speech was Socrates. Socrates was teach- 
ing a system of morals that was likely to destroy the in- 
come of the Grecian priests. Since they could not answer 
his arguments, they charged him with "corrupting the 
youth," and had him executed. 

Both Christ and Socrates were destroyed for teaching 
the truth, and attacking established religious practices. In 
both cases the priests were the prosecutors. 

Every advocate of Espionage Laws, or Sedition Laws, 
in the world's history, has claimed that he wanted the laws 
to use in the cause of right. Yet this startling statement 
is made: No espionage law was ever used for a good pur- 
pose, and no evil teaching was ever destroyed by such law, 
nor was ever an evil person put in prison under the pro- 
visions of any such law. 

Truth does not require, and has never needed, force 
and violence to support it. Truth is always able to hold its 
own It is error alone that demands protection of the law 
Leave truth free, give it a chance, unshackle the minds of 
men, and it will triumph ; the gates of hell shall not prevail 
against it. 



— 118 — 

Laws against free speech are uniformly used against 
truth, and in support of error. Such laws are not needed 
by truth ; they are necessary to the advocates and benefici- 
aries of error, to stop the mouths of thinkers, and men of 
reason. 

Can you imagine any man who believes in his own 
theory, who wishes discussion prevented? Newton certain- 
ly never wished to prevent discussion of his theory of grav- 
itation. Copernicus would naturally want his theory of 
the solar system discussed that the truth might be establish- 
ed. Columbus was ready to meet all comers, with his theory 
of reaching the East by sailing West. He did meet all the 
learned men of Europe, and none could answer his thesis. 
Bat they said he was a fool. 

It is only the advocates of error who wish to stop dis- 
cussion. The man who has a system that yields him a prof- 
it, does not want it exposed. He fears the truth, and truth- 
tellers. Hence he wants a law to stop discussion. 

Shakespeare makes his Julius Ceasar illustrate the 
point. Talking to Antonius, Caesar says : 

"Let me have men about me that are fat ; 

Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights. 
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry kok; 

He thinks too much : such men are dangerous." 

No charge is made against Cassius' probity, but the 
objection to him is that he thinks too much. And the 
trouble is that Cassius is thinking correctly. He under- 
stands Caesar and Ceasar's designs. If Cassius were in 
error, the truth would set him right, and there would have 
been nothing to fear. But when a man "thinks too much," 



— 119 — 

and thinks correctly, there is but one remedy for error, and 
that is suppression of the truth and destruction of the think- 
er. 

Freedom of speech and of the press, is the foundation 
of any free government. If that freedom is guaranteed 
and exercised, progress is assured. Everything moves for- 
ward. Stop free speech, and you stop thought and prog- 
ress; error multiplies and decay immediately begins. 

The act of thinking, by an individual, cannot be con- 
trolled or directed, in any manner whatsoever, by man 
made law. Even the individual himself cannot control hia 
own thoughts. He is largely the creature of his thought 
Hence it is worse than absurd to attempt to control thought 
or its expression by statutes. As well enact a statute for 
bidding the apple to fall to the ground when it ripens and 
leaves its stem. 

No statute can compel an idea to come into existence. 
How absurd it would have been to have sent forth a decree 
that Copernicus must prove the sun is the center of the 
universe. And the decree that forbade people to accept 
Copernicus' proof, or him to teach his theory, was equally 
absurd. That is the question involved in attempting to 
regulate, control, and forbid another's thoughts, and the 
expressions of those thoughts, in any way that he may wish 
to express them. Writing is simply another method of 
expression. The dumb cannot reveal thought by words, 
but must use material signs. The artist expresses his 
thoughts in a picture, the sculptor in a piece of stone, the 
orator through words. Limitation of expression is not law 
but tyranny. Thought cannot stay itself at the command 
of the law, neither can it come forth at the bidding of the 
law. 



—120— 

Shakespeare did not write his immortal poetry at the 
behest of the law nor did Bethoven compose his sonatas 
because the law said he must. Fulton did not invent the 
steamboat, Morse the telegraph, Edison the incandescent 
light, nor Marconi the wireless, because the law commanded 
them to do those things. No music, poetry, sculpture, 
painting, song or oration ever come forth because the law 
said, "thou shalt." Nor yet did any of these things ever 
stay because the law said "thou shalt not." 

Thought is above and beyond "the law ;" it is the busi- 
ness of the Creator of all things, and He alone may bid or 
forbid it. 

Let us close the argument with this challenge : Where 
is the just government that was overthrown through free- 
dom of speech? Next, where is the bad government that 
has been able to maintain itself by suppressing freedom of 
speech and of the press? You cannot shoot or imprison 
ideas, nor burn them at the stake! 

The old Czarist government of Russia was bolstered up 
with rigid laws against freedom of speech and of the press. 
When the war came it felt secure, because thought was de- 
nied expression. And yet Russia was the first to fall ; not 
from the enemy without, but from the subject within. 

The Espionage Laws enacted during the Wilson ad- 
ministration have never been repealed, but are upon our 
statute books today, in full force and effect. The only rea- 
son they are not employed by those who wish to silence op- 
position to error and wickedness, is that the law only applies 
to uterances, etc., when the United States is at war. If 
the necessity becomes pressing, the President can force a 
declaration of war with some small country, like Haiti, for 



—121— 



"hey cause serious injury to the American government, and 
destroy the faith of the people in our democracy. 

The following quotations are listed for the informa- 
tion of the reader. They are short extracts taken from 
books and papers by distinguished thinkers of many lands. 

"Freethinking pioneers all re fo r ms/'-phel 
"The liberty of the press is a blessing -J^nson 
"Freethinking leads to free inquiry. —Abner Knee 

Iand '"The freedom of the press should be inviolate."— J. Q- 

Ada -Hie people should be masters of the press, not its 

Se " "Theln^who will not investigate both sides of a 

qUeSt ^j S l "ofthe-presst essential to a free govern- 

"^^e^ib^-of the precis the highest safeguard to all 

iree %7Zt"n -evU, ^witness of the evil; if well, 
why smitest thou me?"— John, 18:23. 

"No law shall be enacted to restrain the liberty of 
No law snaii » ( o{ Hawan) 

SPee ^T°he°f ■ e e th P [n e ker lov«™berty of thought and expres- 
sion, for it brings fact and truth to the front. -T. L. 

Br ™Man has a right to think all things, .speak all things 
write all things, but not to impose his op.nons. -Machia 

" eVi "Do not talk about disgrace from a thing being known 
when the disgrace is that the thing should exist. -Fal- 

C ° ne "The freedom of the press is one of the bulwarks of 
liberty and can never be restrained but by despotic gov- 

ern ^He S ih7t G widno°t n reason is a bigot; he : that cannot ^rea- 
son is a fool ; he that dares not reason is a slave. -Sir Wm. 
Drummond. 



—122— 

"If there is anything in the universe that can't stand 
discussion, let it crack." — Wendell Phillips. 

"To argue against any breach of liberty from the ill use 
that may be made of it, is to argue against liberty itself, 
since all is capable of being abused." — Lord Lytton. 

"All truth is safe, and nothing else is safe ; and he who 
keeps back the truth or withholds it from men, from motives 

of expediency, is either a coward or a criminal, or both." — 
Max Muller.' 

"There are no privileges of the press that are not the 

privileges of the people ; any citizen has the right to tell the 
truth, speak it, or write it, for his own advantage, and the 

general welfare." — Murat Halstead. 

"Without free speech no search for truth is possible: 
without free speech no discovery of truth is useful ; without 
free speech progress is checked and the nations no longer 
march forward toward the nobler life which the future 
holds for man. Better a thousand fold abuse of free 
speech than denial of free speech. The abuse dies in a 
day, but the denial slays the life of the people and entombs 
the hope of the race." — Bradlaugh. 

"It is dangerous in any government to say to a nation, 

Thou shalt not read. This is now done in Spain, and was 
formerly done "under the old government of France, but it 
served to procure the downfall of the latter, and is subvert- 
ing that of the former, and it will have the same tendency 
in all countries, because Thought, by some means or other, 
is got abroad in the world, and cannot be restrained, though 
reading may." — Thomas Paine. 

"While there are bad-hearted men in the world, and 
those who wish to make falsehood pass for truth, they will 

ever discover themselves and their counsel, by their impa- 
tience of contradiction, their hatred of those who differ 
from them, their wish to suppress inquiry, and their bitter 
resentment, when what they call truth has not been handled 

with the delicacy and niceness which it was never anything 
but falsehood that required or needed." — Taylor's "Diegesis" 

"ERROR OF OPINION MAY BE TOLERATED 

WHERE REASON IS LEFT FREE TO COMBAT IT."— 
Thomas Jefferson. 



—123— 

"No matter whose lips that would speak, they must be 
free and ungagged. Let us believe that the whole truth 
can never do harm to the whole of virtue ; and remember 
that in order to get the whole of truth, you must allow every 
man right or wrong, freely to utter his conscience, and pro- 
tect him in so doing. Entire unshackled freedom for every 
man's life, no matter what his doctrine— the safety of tree 
discussion no matter how wide its range. The community 
which dares not protect its humblest and most hated mem- 
ber in the free utterance of his opinions, no matter how false 
or hateful, is only a gang of slaves."— Wendell Phillips. 

"Give me but the liberty of the Press, and I will give 
to the minister a venal House of Peers— I will give him a cor- 
rupt and servile House of Commons— I will give him the 
full sway of the patronage of office— I will give him the 
whole host of ministerial influence— I will give him all the 
power the place can confer upon him to purchase up sub- 
mission and overawe resistance— and yet, armed with the 
Liberty of the Press, I will go forth to meet him undismayed 
—I will attack the mighty fabric he has reared, with that 
mightier engine— I will shake down from its height cor- 
ruption, and bury it amidst the ruins of the abuses it was 
meant to shelter."— Sheridan, 15 "Parlimentary Debates, 

341. . ,. ,. 

"Men in earnest have no time to waste hi patching tig 

leaves for the naked truth." — Lowell. 
"They are slaves who fear to speak 
For the fallen and the weak ; 
They are slaves who will not choose 
Hatred, scoffing, and abuse 
Rather than in silence shrink 
From the truth they needs must think ; 
They are slaves who dare not be 
In the right with two or three." 

— Lowell. 

"They may not talk of faith in God, or of standing on 
the eternal rock, who turn pale with fear or are flushed with 
anger when their cherished convictions are called in ques- 
tion or who cry out : 'If we let him thus alone, all men will 
believe on him, and the Romans shall come and take away 



—124— 

both our place and nation.' They know not what spirit 
they are of ; the light that is in them is darkness, and how 
great that darkness ! It was not Jesus that was filled with 
consternation, but his enemies, on account of the heresy of 
untrammelled thought and free utterance: 'Then the high 
priest rent his clothes, saying: "He hath spoken blasphemy; 
what further need have we of witnesses? Behold now ye 
have heard his blasphemy. What think ye?" They ans- 
wered and said : 'He is guilty of death.' "Then did they 
spit in his face, and buffeted him, and others smote him 
with the palms of their hands." So have ever behaved 
the pious advocates of error, such has ever been the treat- 
ment of the 'blasphemous' defender of truth." — William 
Lloyd Garrison. 

"Force in matters of opinion can do no good, but is 
very apt to do hurt, for no man can change his opinions 
when he will, or be satisfied in his reason that his opinion 
is false because discountenanced." — Rev. Jeremy Taylor. 

"To limit the press is to insult the nation ; to prohibit 
the reading of certain books is to declare the inhabitants to 
be either fools or slaves." — Helvetius. 

"Should we to destroy error compel it to silence? NO. 
How then? Let it talk on. Error, obscure of itself , is re- 
jected by every sound understanding. If time have not 
given it credit, and it be not favored by government, it 
cannot bear the eye of examination. Reason will ultimate- 
ly direct wherever it be freely exercised." — Helvetius. 

"Without freedom of thought there can be no such 
thing as wisdom, and no such thing as public liberty with- 
out freedom of speech— which is the right of every man, 
as far as by it he does not hurt and control the right of 
another ; and this is the only check which it ought to suf- 
fer, and the only bounds which it ought to know. 

"Whoever would overturn the liberty of the nation 
must begin by subduing freedom of speech." 

"To do public mischief without hearing of it is the 
prerogative and felicity of tyranny." — Gordon, "Cato's Let- 
ters." 



CHAPTER X. 

Conscription. 

"But this I will avow, that I have scorned, 

And still do scorn, to hide my se-.se of wrong! 

Who brands me on the forehead, breaks my sword, 

Or lays the bloody scourge upon my back, 

Wrongs me not half so much as he who shuts 

The gates of honor on me,— turning out 

The Roman from his birthright; and, for what? 

To fling your offices to every slave! 

Vipers, that creep where man disdains to climb, 

And, having wound their loathsome track to the top, 

Of this huge, mouldering monument of Rome, 

Hang hissing at the nobler man below!" 

— Catiline's Defiance. 

~- N 1916 Congress enacted a new military law, to sup- 
i\ plant the old Dick law. This bill was enacted to 
<~ meet the wishes of the General Staff, and sought to 
put into practice the advantages gained from observation of 
the armies engaged in the European war. It was urged 
that the passage of this law would automatically provide for 
raising an army in case of war, and that further legislation 
would not be necessary. Notwithstanding this fact, upon 
the declaration of war in 1917, the army leaders immediate- 
ly wanted a law enacted providing for the conscription of 
such men as might be needed. 

President Wilson had opposed what was termed com- 
pulsory military service very vigorously, but in this in- 
stance he again changed his opinion and favored the pass- 
age of the conscription bill. There was considerable doubt, 
in the first place, as to the constitutionality of this law, on 
the ground that the authority to draft a citizen had never 
been vested in Congress. There was, however, no doubt 



—126— 

that the States possessed the legal authority, to draft for 
domestic defense, such of their citizens into the army as 
they saw fit. 

It had always been the custom and policy of the United 
States, and of England, from which our common law was 
drawn, to raise armies by issuing a call for volunteers. 
When we entered the war against Germany, everyone nat- 
urally expected the President to call for volunteers. For- 
mer President Roosevelt proposed to raise a Division and 
personally lead it to Europe, but this and similar plans were 
rejected. 

The position of Senator Vardaman on raising the army 
has been grossly misrepresented. He has been charged 
with having opposed the entire program. His speech on 
the proposed Selective Service Act was made on April 25th, 
1917. A reading of this speech will show very clearly that 
he was not opposed to the bill as a whole. His speech is a 
review of the traditional attitude of Republics toward the 
drafting of men for military service, and especially for for- 
eign service. In this speech he stated as follows : 

"We are in a state of war. * * * * It is nec- 
essary that the government should make every 
preparation essential to a successful termination of 
this conflict. ■ I am willing to vote for a call to 
arms of one million men, or two million or five 
million, if it be necessary. I would include in that 
call men as well as boys. I would let the able 
bodied citizen whose heart is aflame with patriotic 
desire to serve his country, have an opportunity to 
serve regardless cf the age limit. I would make 
it a volunteer army, filled with the zeal and eager- 
ness of the patriot." 

The bill under consideration had been considered by 
the House of Representatives, and an amendment was pre- 



—127— 



• 



pared providing that if enough men did not volunteer at the 
end of ninety days, that then the conscription feature should 
apply. In discussing this Senator Vardaman said : 

"If the people are given a chance in this emer- 
gency, they will do their duty as they have always 
done it. But if the high ideals which have led 
them in the past have been abandoned, and they 
shall prove recreant and refuse to answer the call 
of the President to arms, then I shall vote to enact 
such autocratic laws as the present bill." 

It was contended by the advocates of the Selective Ser- 
vice Act men would volunteer who should better be left at 
home, but the proposed amendment which Vardaman, and 
Senators who agreed with him favored, provided that men 
who volunteered and were needed in necessary and essen- 
tial civil occupations should be rejected. The whole atti- 
tnude of Senator Vardaman was to give the people a chance 
to volunteer, and then, if they failed to volunteer, to draft 
them into the army. His attitude was shared and openly 
advocated by a great many of the leaders of the House and 
Senate, including the Chairman of the Military Affairs 
Committee of the House. His attitude may be found m 
the following extract from his address to the Senate on the 
subject: 

"I trust that I may be permitted to digress 
just a moment to say that while we are discussing 
the question of compelling men to render military 
service, to offer up their lives on the field of battle 
for their country, I submit that it would not be out 
of place to consider for a moment the question of 
compelling the dollars that have been coined out of 
the blood and tears of women and children and men 
sacrificed upon the field of battle to do some ser- 
vice without pay in this war. The man who takes 
advantage of his country's misfortune to extort 
money from the tax payers for the hire of his 



—128— 

hoarded gold is entitled to the same affectionate 
consideration that I have for the nasty bird that 
follows in the wake of war and preys upon the sol- 
dier slain upon the battle field. // you are going 
to compel men to serve, let us conscript a little of 
the unholy increment acquired during this unfortu- 
nate war. Posterity will be mortgaged to the 
fourth or fifth generations to pay the expenses of 
this devastating struggle. But the means, the 
sinews of war, must be provided, however heavily 
it may press down upon the aching stoop of the 
toiler. I should like to do everything the Presi- 
dent thinks necessary to be done, but I cannot get 
my consent to offer a deliberate affront to the 
patriotism of the American citizen, the man whose 
wisdom writes the law, whose labor produces the 
wealth of this nation, in time of peace, and whose 
strong arm fights the country's battles in time of 
war. / cannot afford to question that man's pa- 
triotism by voting for a laiv compelling him to per- 
form his duty to his country. 

"This man has done his duty to his country in 
the past. He has never faltered or proven re- 
creant. He is not disloyal in the present emer- 
gency and I think that he can be relied upon with- 
out compulsion to make any sacrifice, render any 
service, necessary to keep the Stars and Stripes 
unstained and triumphant in the air. Compul- 
sion is not necessary to meet the present emer- 
gency. I think that it is an insult to the patriot- 
ism of freemen, not needed now, and I would not 
vote for such a law to be used in creating a great 
standing Army for the future. I believe the 
psychological effect of such legislation upon the 
citizen will be bad. No man, however patriotic 
he may be, will entertain that same affectionate 
regard for a Government that will needlessly put 
such stigma upon his patriotism." 

The truth of the matter is that there was never any 
great hurry to raise an army from this country, although 
the advocates of the Selective Service Act (Conscript Law) 




Captain Jas. K. Vardaman, Jr. 

(1918) 



j- 



—129— 

claimed that there was, and that the volunteer method 
would be too slow. The Selective Service Act was passed 
and the necessary blanks and instructions were prepared. 
The organization of draft boards and registration officers 
perfected, and the first registration was had on the 6th 
day of June, 1917, about two months after the declaration 
of war The first call for men was not made until in 
September, and it was during the first part of October 
that the first soldiers were sent to camp. 

In support of the statement that the volunteer plan 
would have raised an army quicker than the conscript 
method, the following extract from a speech by Hon. Hu- 
bert D. Stephens, Congressman from Mississippi, is given. 
Mr. Stephens said : 

"An effort is made to frighten those of us 
who are opposed to conscription by the assertion 
that in voting for the volunteer system we are lend- 
ing aid and comfort to the Germans. There is 
just as little truth in that statement as there is in 
many others made by conscriptionists. The real 
fact is that if the Germans derive any satisfaction 
from the action of the advocates of either volun- 
teerism or conscription that it comes from the 
conscriptionists. The Germans knew that to con- 
script men will mean a delay of several months in 
getting an army. It will require months to put 
the machinery in operation to conscript men, and 
it will take just as long to train the conscripts as 
the volunteers." 

The intervening time had been properly spent in the 
training of officers and in rushing the manufacture of 
equipment. As it was, a great many men were sent to 
camp without the necessary equipment for training or ade- 
quate facilities for giving them proper care and treatment 
in cases of illness. It will thus be seen that, had the 



—130 — 

amendment which Senator Vardaman favored been adopt- 
ed, no harm could have resulted, because it was four months 
after the passage of the bill before any men were actually 
summoned into service, and the ninety day limit provided in 
the amendment would have long expired. As a matter of 
fact, all the men needed would have volunteered in thirty 
days. There was never any justification for the charge 
that Vardaman was disloyal because of his opposition to the 
Selective Service Act. The following extract from his 
speech on the subject will show the strong sentiment which 
he entertained for the time-honored and time-tested volun- 
teer system : 

"The pages of American history are illumi- 
nated with deeds of heroism, of wisdom, and the 
patriotic devotion of our people to the flag. In 
the halls of state, on the hustings, on the field of 
battle, in scientific research, in agriculture, and in 
all the industrial arts, America, notwithstanding 
her youth, has led the world. Can the Congress 
afford at this time to imitate the effete autocracies 
of Europe which have brought the world to the 
present sad plight, and discredit and dishonor the 
qualities of mind and soul that have created a civ- 
ilization which challenges the admiration of man- 
kind and commands the emulation of the world? 
God forbid. Let us not forget American history 
and the salutory lessons it teaches. 

"Speaking of the volunteer and his great ser- 
vice to his country, one of America's greatest 
orators has said : 'It is a sight worth the genius of 
our great republic to behold at the country's call 
great armies leap forth in battle array, and when 
their services are no longer needed to return again 
to the communities whence they came. And thus 
the dark thunder cloud at nature's summons 
marshals its black battalions and lowers upon the 
horizon, at length, its lightning spent, its dread 
artillery silenced, disbanding its frowning ranks, 



— 131 — 



it melts into blue ether, and the next morning you 
will find it in the dew drop, upon the flower, or as- 
sisting with its kindly moisture in the growth ot 
the young and tender plant. Great and glorious 
country is this, where every citizen can be readily 
converted into an efficient soldier and forthwith 
after the war is over, return to his home a peace- 
ful, self-sustaining, self-governing, sell-support- 
ing, law-abiding, private citizen.' 

"THE SAFETY OF THE NATION IS WITH 
THE PEOPLE, AND MY FAITH IN THEIR 
LOYALTY AND DEVOTION TO THE FLAG 
BIDS ME TRUST THEM ABSOLUTELY." 

It has often been asserted that Senator Vardaman 
made the statement that "conscripts and convicts are synon- 
omous." He did not make that statement, nor entertain 
any such idea. 

This comparison was first made by Hon. Champ Clark, 
in a magnificent speech made in the House of Representa- 
tives April 25, 1917. After praising the patriotism ot 
Missouri, and showing the number of volunteers from that 
state that went to the Civil War, and making the state- 
ment that no Missourian was ever conscripted, Mr. Clark 
made this plea : 

"For a chance for that imperial Common- 
wealth to have the glorious privilege of raising her 
full quota of her brave and gallant sons by the vol- 
unteer system, instead of being dragged into the 
Army by the scruff of their necks, I humbly pray 
the American Congress (Applause). 1 piotest 
with all my heart and mind and soul against hay- 
ing the slur of being a conscript placed upon the 
men of Missouri. In the estimation of Missour- 
ians there is precious little difference between a 
conscript and a convict. (Applause). 
The next day, April 26, Mr. H. D. Stephens of Missis- 
sippi spoke AGAINST conscription, and used this language : 



—132— 

"Who performed the valiant service in the 
Civil War in both armies that brought honor and 
glory to the American soldier? It was the volun- 
teer, and not the conscript. It is a matter of his- 
tory that conscription was a mistake and a failure 
on both sides. Were Grant and Sherman, Lee and 
Jackson, or any of the other great generals on 
either side conscripts? Certainly not. I defy any 
one to name a single conscript in that great strug- 
gle that ever received any recognition for bravery 
or meritorious service. I would also like for any- 
one to name a single man who has ever boasted of 
the fact that he was a conscript. It has always 
been my under standingthat it was considered a 
disgrace to have been conscripted. Yet the gentle- 
men who favor conscription without giving men a 
chance to volunteer are stamping disgrace upon 
the brows of men ivho do not deserve such stigma." 
(In justice to Mr. Stephens, the reader is informed 
that he, Mr. Stephens, voted for the Selective 
Service Act.) 

On the same point, Senator Vardaman, in a speech de- 
livered April 25, 1917, said: 

"I am not going to vote for compulsory service 
until I am convinced that the majority of the 
American people are cravens and must be driven 
as dumb brutes to defend their country's cause. 
If the people are given a chance in this emergency, 
they will do their duty as they have always done 
it. But if the high ideals_ which led them in the 
past have been abandoned and they shall prove re- 
creant and refuse to answer the call of the Presi- 
dent to arms, then I shall vote to enact such auto- 
cratic laws as the present bill. Compulsory service 
has been tried in the past and has proven a failure. 
The conscript and convict have been held by patri- 
otic brave men in equal contempt. The republic 
that must be defended by a conscripted soldiery 
has about run its course and ought to change its 
form of government." 



—133— 

Mr. Stephens, Mr. Clark and Mr. Vardaman, all ex- 
pressed the same sentiments, and neither said anything that 
could reflect upon the drafted soldier. All three insisted 
that the American men would volunteer, and that they 
should not be conscripted when they were willing and anx- 
ious to volunteer. 

Senator Vardaman had a son in France in the Artillery 
Department, on the field of battle, and he of course would 
not say anything derogatory to the American soldier, for 
that reason, if for no other. 

As a matter of record, Senator Vardaman did a great 
deal for the soldiers. He assisted in raising their pay, 
from $15 to $30 a month, and tried to add $50 a month 
additional, while on foreign service; the money to be raised 
from excessive incomes, from $100,000 and up. 

The volunteer system of raising an army is as old as 
the Anglo-Saxon race. It was always the law in England 
that an Englishman could never be sent outside of his coun- 
try, except as punishment for crime. 

One of the charges against King Charles the First 
was that, he tried to force Parliament to pass an "Impress- 
ment Bill", giving him the right to draft men into the army. 

Showing the traditional method of raising an army in 
the United States, the Minority Report of the Senate Com- 
mittee on Military Affairs, made this statement : 

"The traditions and history of our people fa- 
vor the volunteer system. We have had five wars. 
All of them were fought under the volunteer sys- 
tem and all of them were won. The Nation has 
never lost a war. The volunteer spirit is bred 
into the people. The men of the United States are 



—134— 

willing to volunteer now and ought to be' given an 
opportunity to do so rather than to be conscripted 
into the service." 

The New York World (an administration paper and 
anti-Var daman) said in an editorial: 

"It has been our pride and our boast that 
unlike the monarchies of the Old World our Gov- 
ernment has never been compelled either to resort 
to a conscription cf its citizens or the employ- 
ment of foreign mercenaries. It is hereditary 
and heretofore an honored tradition of the Anglo- 
Saxon race that exemption from extorted military 
service is one of the peculiar privileges cf free- 
men." 

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said : 

"The fact that the Australian Government did 
not dare to put a conscription law in effect with- 
out submitting it to a popular vote is immensely 
significant. This first conscription referendum 
sets a precedent marking progress for democracy." 

The Round Table Quarterly said : 

"The conscription controversy has its roots 
deep in English history. The passionate hatred 
of militarism, and of the system of conscription 
in which it is incarnate ; dates back to Cromwell 
and his major generals." 

These scattered comments, show that the traditional 
policy of all Anglo-Saxon peoples has been to raise armies 
by the volunteer plan. Conscription was not thought of 
by the framers of the Constitution, and it was generally 
regarded that Congress had no powers to compel its citizens 
to perform military service. 

The substitution of the draft for the volunteer system 
was a complete abandonment of the policy of the Saxons, 
from the beginnings of the race. 



—135— 



The draft system of raising armies is pernicious in 
many respects. President Wilson condemned it in classical 
terms before the war with Germany, and lost his Secretary 
of War, Mr. Garrison, because he (Wilson) opposed com- 
pulsory' service. Immediately in the wake of compulsory 
military service, follows militarism, for it places in the 
hands of the military leaders the means of creating an 
army, without the support of popular sentiment. 

And it goes hand in hand with arbitrary power of all 
kinds. It is utterly destructive of democracy. Create a 
system of compulsory military service, and freedom of 
speech, press and assemblage will be speedily destroyed. 
Once started on the path of militarism, a nation rapidly 
goes through the process of losing its liberties and the 
process of vesting all power in autocrats ; then comes in- 
evitable convulsion and ruin. The France of 1792 is a case 
in point. Do not omit modern Germany, ending with the 
present state cf affairs. Note also the great and populous 
nation— Russia. "The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 

AND IT SHOULD NEVER BE FORGOTTEN THAT 
A SYSTEM OF CONSCRIPTION, OR COMPULSORY 
MILITARY TRAINING, OR UNIVERSAL MILITARY 
SERVICE BY WHATEVER NAME CALLED, WILL 
NECESSARILY MEAN THAT IN THE SOUTH A MA- 
JORITY OF THE MILITARISTS WILL BE NEGROES. 
THE MIND CANNOT PICTURE SO HORRIBLE A SIT- 
UATION AS WOULD RESULT IF THERE SHOULD PE 
THREE MILLION TRAINED NEGRO SOLDIERS 
SOUTH OF THE MASON AND DIXON LINE. 



CHAPTER XL 
A Distorted Newspaper Interview. 

"'Tis slander 
Whose edge is sharper than the sword, whose tongue 
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile, whose breath 
Rides on the posting winds and doth belie 
All cor/.ers of the world; kings, queens and states, 
Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave 
This viperous slander enters." 

—Shakespeare. "Cymbeline." Act III. Sc. 4. L. 35. 

— n O a greater extent than any other prominent Missis- 
0L sippian, Senator Vardaman has been pursued by 
misrepresentations, if not outright and direct lying. 
Incidentally, this may be accepted as proof of the correct- 
ness of his position, because if a man be wrong, it is only 
necessary clearly to expose his position, and reason will 
destroy him. Hence, it is nearly always true that the man 
who is slandered and misrepresented is right. 

The first method used to destroy a man politically is 
to use such arguments and facts as are at hand. The next 
method is to misrepresent facts, and to inject false issues 
into the contentions. The first method is uniformly suc- 
cessful against a man who is in error. The second is used 
against a man who is in the right. In other words the first 
method is practiced by those who stand for truth and vir- 
tue ; the second, by those who fight on the side of error and 
of wickedness. 

Even before he was a candidate for Governor, Mr. 
Vardaman was the object of very vigorous political opposi- 
tion, and his position was grossly misrepresented. As a 



—137— 

candidate for Governor, the abuse and misrepresentation 
grew worse, and continued with unabated vigor during his 
campaigns for the Senate, reaching the climax during the 
memorable campaign of 1918. 

One of the charges most often used during the cam- 
paign of 1918, was that Senator Vardaman had said that 
the United States went into the war "to stab Germany in 
the back while England and France held her down." This 
was stated and re-stated in dozens of different forms, each 
version being put in quotation marks, and represented as 
being Vardaman's own words. The following are the prin- 
cipal variations of the interview as given by his political 
enemies. 

His political opponent in the campaign of 1918 stated 
it in these words : 

1. "Only last week in a prepared statement 
given to the press and published all over the coun- 
try he said, in speaking of Germany, that America 
had merely entered the war to 'stab her in the back 
while England and France have her down.' " 

The three versions below are taken from different 
newspapers. 

2. "When he said in a speech in the Seriate 
after the United States was in war with Germany, 
that the United States was 'stabbing Germany in 
the back while Great Britain and France held her 
down' he gave expression to a sentiment of dis- 
loyalty also an opinion ridiculously absurd." 

3. "And his statement that 'the United States 
was going t a stab Germany in the back while Eng- 
land and France were holding her down.' : 

4. "That if the United States did not fight 
Germany with the assistance of England and 
France, that we would have it to do so later on by 
ourselves — waiting as it were until England and 



- 138 — 

France had Germany upon her knees and then 

proceed to stab her in the back." 

These four versions of a statement, all widely different 

in wording, state positively that Senator Vardaman had 
said that our purpose in entering the war was to "stab 
Germany in the back." 

Now let us see what Vardaman did say, and the reason 
it was said, and how and where it was said. In the sum- 
mer of 1917, there was considerable disagreement amonj 
the people as to the causes of our war with Germany. 
Thousands of "causes" were assigned, and even the mem- 
bers of the President's Cabinet did not agree upon th» 
same causes. A movement was organized to send out the 
members of Congress, and the President in a gigantic 
Chautauqua movement to tell the people why we had gone 
to war. In commenting on this proposed movement, Sena- 
tor Vardaman gave out a statement which is given below. 
The interview as given here is an exact copy of that given 
to the press by Senator Vardaman in August, 1917. It is 
given with exactly the same punctuation marks in every 
particular as used in the original. The statement fol 
lows : 

i Regarding the proposition of the President to go him- 
self and send Congressmen over the country to explain to 
the people the cause of the war, Senator Vardaman said : 

"I have heard of this mammoth Chautauqua 
movement. I think it is entirely proper that rep- 
resentatives of the people in Congress should go 
to the country and give an account of their stew- 
ardship to their masters. I do not think, how- 
ever, it necessary to explain to the people the real 
causes of this war. The people undersatnd this 
question very much better than some Congressmen 
and office-holders imagine they do. They are not 



—139— 

all fools, thank God. I sometimes think that 
after some men stay in Washington a while they 
'lose the common touch' and too readily come to 
the conclusion that the country people do not know 
anything and need to be told. 

"Now the trouble in the immediate past has 
been, that the people have been given too much 
misinformation by their daily papers and not 
enough truth. The 'preparedness propaganda' 
subsidized the metropolitan press early in the 
game, and went to work to create an influence or 
a sentiment in favor of war. The reason for that 
was, munition manufacturers and other contract- 
ors wanted the profits in war contracts. The pa- 
pers were not content with pursuing the campaign 
of misinformation regarding the question of pre- 
paredness for war, but they spent a great deal of 
their highly valuable space, in dollars and cents, 
maligning and misrepresenting those of us who 
were opposed to entering the European slaughter- 
pen without an adequate cause. 

"Now, I have no objection to the campaign 
that is to be launched but I do hope that those 
Congressional propagandists may come to some 
understanding or agreement as to what they will 
tell the people is the real cause of the war, and 
the particular thing for which we propose to sac- 
rifice millions of men and squander billions of dol- 
lars. You will recall that the first excuse for en- 
tering into the war was to 'protect American 
rights upon the high seas and to keep the seas neu- 
tral.' Then there was a change of front, — It was 
a war waged 'against autocracy in the interests of 
world democracy.' American youths were to be 
fed to the Moloch of war in order that the Eu- 
ropean people who prefer a king should be forced 
at American dictation to take a Republican or 
Democratic president as their ruler. Then again 
it was propsed if we did 'not fight Germany now, 
stab her in the back while England and France 
have her down that we would have to fight her 



—140— 

alone/ and other excuses or causes imaginary and 
real for war were assigned. Now, personally, I 
think the cause of this war was the interference 
on the part of Germany with commerce between 
New York and London. I have always thought 
it was purely a matter of pecuniary profit and I 
think so still, but I have no objection to discussion. 
If the submarine warfare by Germany had not 
interfered with business and profits there would, 
in my judgment, probably have been no war. An 
untrammeled press and free speech will enable 
the men who pay the taxes in time of peace and 
shed their blood in time of war to find out the 
real truth for which they are to be sacrificed. 

"I think they know it now, but probably 
presidential and congressional speechifying will 
illuminate the darkened mind of the plain man at 
home on the subject. 

"All the people of this country desire is the 
truth. They are honest and patriotic. They are 
going to do their duty to their country in peace 
and in war and they have a right to expect their 
representatives in Congress to at least be candid 
with them. And I might add that they have a 
right to demand of the Congressman that he give 
them an opinion as to the causes of the war en 
two consecutive days without changing his opin- 
ion. 

"No man ever uttered a greater truth than 
Lincoln when he said : 'You can fool all the peo- 
ple sometime and some of the people all the time, 
but you cannot fool all the people all the time.' 
And that is just as true to-day as it was fifty years 
ago when Lincoln said it." 

In the second paragraph of this interview Senator 
Vardaman stated that the trouble was that the people had 
been given too much "misinformation." Further along he 
stated what some of that "misinformation" was, listing 



— 141 — 

five or six alleged causes of war, all of which he termed "ex- 
cuses". None of these reasons were his reasons, and did 
not represent his opinion. 

This is conclusively shown by the fact that immedi- 
ately following he gave HIS opinion as to the cause of 
war, by saying: "Now, personally I think the cause of 
this war was the interference on the part of Germany with 
commerce between New York and London." That was 
what HE THOUGHT, and he then said, "but I have no 
objection to discussion." 

At this time, it is a generally accepted fact that we 
did go to war on account of commerce in its broader sense. 
Even President Wilson said in his St. Louis speech, when 
"swinging around the circle" for the League of Nations, 
that it was a war of commerce. So much in verification 
of what Senator Vardaman thought in 1917. 

The political enemies of Senator Vardaman at first 
asserted that the sentence in which the words, "stab her 
in the back while England and France have her down", were 
Vardaman's words, set in the sentence, and expressed his 
sentiment. By no construction of the English lan- 
guage can that conclusion be reached. The whole matter 
enclosed in quotation marks was used as the language of 
another. This can no more be charged to Senator Varda- 
man, than the statement next above it in quotation marks, 
which reads : "against autocracy in the interest of world 
democracy." Both "causes" for war, were set out, and 
immediately condemned by Senator Vardaman, by saying 
they were "excuses" ; and he then followed it by giving HIS 
idea about the cause cf war. 

Another issue is raised by Senator Vardaman's enemies, 
when thev asserted that no one ever used the words about 



—142— 

fighting Germany because we had help, or ever proposed 
that we fight Germany, because unless we did do so, we 
would have to fight alone at some future elate. 

On that denial, it is proper to join issue, and the an- 
swer will determine the veracity of the disputants. The 
statement was generally made, by various high govern- 
ment officials, as well as by the "war orators" of the 
period. Senator John Sharp Williams, used substantially 
the argument in a magazine article, or in an interview 
published in a national magazine. The author heard the 
United States Treasurer, John Burke, use the argument in 
an address in Mississippi. But passing over the statements 
of the "lesser lights", let us see what Secretary of State 
Lansing said, on July 29, 1917, speaking to the student 
Officers Reserve Corps, at Madison Barracks, N. Y. Mr. 
Lansing said in part: 

"Imagine Germany, victor in Europe, because 
the United States remained neutral. Who then, 
think you, would be the next victim of those who 
are seeking to be masters of the whole earth? 
Would not this country with its enormous wealth 
arouse the cupidity of an impoverished though 
triumphant Germany? Would not this democracy 
be the only obstacle between the autocratic rulers 
of Germany and their supreme ambition? Do you 
think that they would withhold their hand from 
so rich a prize? 

"Let me then ask you, would it be easier or 
wiser for this country, single-handed, to resist a 
German Empire, flushed with victory and with 
great armies and navies at its command, than to 
unite ivith the brave enemies of that empire in 
ending now and for all time this menace to our 
future." (Italics the author's.) 

That was Mr. Lansing's "cause" for war; the cause 
he urged before the men who were to lead the fighting. All 



—143— 



that Senator Vardaman did was to catalogue that alleged 
"cause" along with some others. 

By no construction of the English language can Varda- 
man be made to say what his enemies say that he said. 
If you wish to quarrel with him, you may take issue with 
HIS thought as to the reason for war. He had good grounds 
for his opinion, and it is nearer correct than the other 
"reasons", "causes" or /excuses" given by his enemies. 

And it was on such flimsy "charges" as this, that \t 
was asserted that Senator Vardaman was disloyal to his 
country. On the side of his accusers, put every "charge" 
and suggestion and curious circumstance, magnify it all by 
rumor, and you have but a haze of illogical and contra- 
dictory misrepresentations that convince nobody but the 
intellectual weakling, or the miserable partisan. 

On the other side, let us put the man's entire life; his 
record of thirty years of faithful public service; thirty 
years of devoted and consecrated effort in behalf of the 
everyday people of Mississippi; thirty years of service, 
given without financial reward, his only compensation be- 
ing the consciousness of duty well done; and thirty years 
of personal sacrifice for the people of Mississippi- and then 
let us put on top of that record the fact that, when he was 
thirty-six years of age, he kissed a wife and five children 
good-bye, and gave his services to his country in the Span- 
ish-American War— not in an office, but in the field, and 
on a foreign soil ; that, in the World War, he offered his own 
services to the Secretary of War ; and that his own son went 
into that war carrying a father's blessing-went to France 
in the fighting department, and conducted himself in every 
way as worthy of his soldier father and soldier grandfather. 
Let his .enemy with a better record come forward. 
"Fame if not double fac'cl, is double mouth'd, 
And with contrary blast proclaims most deeds; 
On both wings, one black, the other white, ^ 
Bears greatest names in his wild aery flight. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Miscellaneous Charges of Wrongdoing. 

"Not in vain the distance beacons. Forward, 

forward let us range. 
Let the great world spin forever down the 

ringing grooves of change." 

— Tennyson. 

A GOOD deal of this book has been taken up with a dis- 
cussion of various misrepresentations of Senator 
Vardaman's Record. This has been necessary, if the 
reader is to have presented to him the actual facts ; especial- 
ly if the reader remembers the many charges that have been 
made. This chapter is to deal with a few other charges or 
misrepresentations, and close this feature of the biography. 
There are still many misrepresentations un-noticed in this 
book. Notice of them is omitted, because there is not space 
sufficient to cover them all. And then most of these mis- 
representations have served their purpose, and generally 
have been forgotten; even their authors, in most cases, 
have forgotten them. 

THE AIR PLANE, OR AVIATION BILL. 

One of the war measures to come before Congress soon 
after the declaration of war was a Bill to appropriate $640,- 
000,000 to be used in building Air Craft for the war. It 
has been charged that Senator Vardaman voted against 
this Bill, and in other places that he opposed it. 

He did neither. The Bill passed the Senate without a 
record vote, and NO ONE VOTED AGAINST IT. Sena- 
tor Vardaman did not "oppose" the Bill, but on the con- 



—145— 

trary favored it, and urged its passage. In a short speech 
in the Senate, he spoke of the failure to provide in the Bill, 
some method to safeguard the money. 

The Bill as written and as passed, appropriated $640,- 
000,000.00 tc build air planes, and left it all to a Commis- 
sion to be named by the President. The frightful waste 
and graft of this Commission is still being investigated by 
Congress, and will never be fully uncovered. A discussion 
of the hideous stealing permitted by the terms of this Bill, 
will not be attempted here. Thousands of pages of testi- 
mony have been taken in "investigations" that have shown 
the money stolen cr wasted, and nothing done about it. 

When we entered the war, England and France had 
developed a highly satisfactory airplane for use in the war. 
These countries offered this country the plans for these air- 
planes, and all other necessary help, to manufacture addi- 
tional machines. 

But this offer was rejected, and the Air Plane Com- 
mission undertook to build an American Air Plane, with 
a motor to be built, which was later on known as the 
"LIBERTY MOTOR". Precious months were wasted in 
experimenting with this engine which has never proven 
satisfactory. In the meantime, American boys were dying 
in France because we had no airplanes there. 

Railroads were builded to spruce forests, vast num- 
bers of men were put to work in mills and in the woods, 
and in factories, preparing for a great out-put of airplanes 
— some years in the future. But the record is that no ef- 
fective service was rendered by this Commission, and only 
a few airplanes were ever built and sent to France. These 
were known as "flaming coffins". 

Had Senator Vardaman been listened to, and the money 
safeguarded, we would have built the airplanes, and would 



—146— 

have saved hundreds of millions. For remember that $640,- 
000,000.00 was appropriated at first, and later other hun- 
dreds of millions of dollars were added. 

SHIP BUILDING AND HOG ISLAND. 

It has been often charged that Senator Vardaman op- 
posed the building of ships with which to carry on the war. 
What he did was to oppose the waste of money by the gov- 
ernment. Many men in the Congress and in appointive 
jobs, acted as though they thought that it was all right to 
waste money, just so the waste was ostensibly to help the 
war. Hence there was admitted waste everywhere. The 
only defense was that "waste is always prevalent in war." 
There was waste and graft in the construction of canton- 
ments, in the manufacture of ammunition, and in food and 
clothing for the soldiers. 

No where was this graft, waste and stealing more 
pronounced than in the ship building activities. Literally 
billions were lavished upon this industry, with little result. 
An attempt was made to build concrete ships ; and wooden 
ships were constructed, when they were known to be use- 
less ; ship yards were built at government expense; and 
other things were done, that were criminally extravagant. 

A muddy island in the Delaware River considered use- 
less by private individuals, was sold to the Government for 
a big price and plans made to build a ship yard on it. This 
was Hog Island. The "estimated cost of constructing this 
yard was $20,000,000.00. About $100,000,000. was spent 
on it, first and last. As a member of the Commerce Com- 
mittee of the Senate Senator Vardaman conducted an in- 
vestigation of this affair, and exposed the infamous graft 
and stealing that was going on. The existing conditions 
were largely due to the failure of Congress to do its duty 



-147- 



in safeguarding the people's money. Senator Vardaman 
had repeatedly called the attention of the Senate to this 
fact, WHILE THE MONEY WAS BEING APPROPRI- 
ATED. The thanks he received was abuse and misrepre- 
sentation. 

After the money was stolen and wasted, the matter 
was investigated, and at Hog Island alone the Committee 
appointed by the President found that $30,000,000.00 was 
stolen somewhere, but failed to locate the thief. 

Senator Vardaman called attention to the thievery, be- 
fore the horse was stolen; his enemies investigated the 
stable after the animal had disappeared, leaving no tracks. 
The truth is that Vardaman could see further into the 
future than his enemies can see into the past. 

During the time the war fever was high, it was easy 
to misrepresent the purpose of a Senator who was think- 
ing of the money being wasted, and who was attempting 
to protect the toilers of the future years. Senator Varda- 
man could think and feel for the tax burdened people of 
his country, many of them yet unborn, and was brave 
enough to raise his voice in their defense. He knew that 
once the money was spent and gone, it could not be recov- 
ered and that ultimately it would have to be paid by the 
workers of the country, with interest, which will in the 
end amount to several times the amount of the principal. 

As an example of the prodigality with which this gov- 
ernment poured out the people's money, we spent in the 
eight years of Mr. Wilson's two administrations nearly 
twice as much money as we spent in the ONE HUNDRED 
AND TWENTY-EIGHT years before. More than nlty 
billions of dollars were spent by these United States on 
the world war. This stupendous sum equals about $500 



—148— 

for each man, woman and child in our country, or $2,500 
for the average family of five persons. 

Another illustration of our extravagance is a compari- 
son of our expenditures with those of England. That 
country maintained the greatest navy in the world for 
four years, and raised an army larger than ours, and main- 
tained it nearly three times as long. Yet England actually 
spent less money in war than we did. 

Vardaman wanted to conduct the war efficiently, and 
with as much economy as possible. His plans would have 
secured these things, and at the same time have insured 
the soldier boys in foreign lands, adequate pay, with good 
food, clothing and shelter. As it was, the boys in the A. 
E. F. were oftimes without food or clothing, while the 
infamous profiteers in America were making millions at 
their expense, and at the expense of posterity. Vardaman's 
speeches in 1917 and 1918, pointed out the very things 
that later happened. He had been through the Spanish- 
American War and he KNEW what was going on. He 
did his best to prevent it. 

"PREPAREDNESS". 

Another "charge" against Senator Vardaman was that 
he opposed the preparedness program. This was a sub- 
ject before the people in 1915-16, before we entered the 
war. In this fight Vardaman was in accord with President 
Wilson. One of the best speeches against "preparedness" 
was the President's speech to Congress in December, 1914. 

The limit in space prevents quoting at length from the 
President's address, but the following shows its spirit: 

"From the first we have had a clear and set- 
tled policy with regard to military establishments. 
We never have had, and while we retain our pres- 



—149— 

ent principles, and ideals we never shall have a 
large standing army. If asked, Are you ready 
to defend yourselves? we reply, Most assuredly, 
to the utmost; and yet we shall not turn America 
into a military camp. We will not ask our young 
men to spend the best years of. their lives making 
soldiers of themselves. There is another sort of 
energy in us. It will know how to declare itself 
and make itself effective should occasion arise. 
And especially when half the world is on fire we 
shall be careful to make our moral insurance 
against the spread of the conflagration very defi- 
nite and certain and adequate indeed." 

Mr Wilson then outlined what America could do in 
the way of preparation, and following that used these 

words : 

"More than that carries with it a reversal of 
the whole history and character of our polity. 
More than this, proposed at this time permit me 
to say, would mean merely that we had lost our 
self-possession, that we had peen thrown off our 
balance by a war ivith which we have nothing to 
do whose causes cannot touch us, whose very ex- 
istence affords us opportunities of friendship and 
disinterested service which should make us 
ashamed of any thought of hostility or fearful 
preparation for trouble." 

Later when Mr. Wilson changed his mind about the 
war and 'about its causes, and about "preparedness", Mr. 
Vardaman did not change his mind at the same time. Be- 
cause he did not do so, the political friends of the President 
began an attack upon Mr. Vardaman. It is passing strange 
that the men who denounced Mr. Vardaman for opposing 
the "preparedness" program, were the same men who had 
applauded Mr. Wilson for holding the same views. 

Briefly, let us see what the "preparedness" program 
called for. 'Roughly it embraced as an essential, "Univer- 



—150— 

sal Military Service", which is another name for "conscrip- 
tion". Every man in the country, negroes and all, were 
to have one year's military training. It will be recalled 
that Prussia began with one year, and ended with three. 
The next thing was to begin to construct a great fleet of 
super-battleships, and all auxiliary vessels to make a bal- 
anced fleet. 

We need not here discuss Universal Military Training, 
or Conscription, because that has been dealt with in an- 
other chapter. 

The Naval program was finally adopted, and nearly 
completed. 

Recently (1922) we have entered the Disarmament 
Conference, and these ships are to be sunk and destroyed. 
Thus again has Vardaman's wisdom been vindicated. 

NEGROES IN THE WAR. 

In the campaign of 1918 it was asserted that Senator 
Vardaman had attempted to have the negroes exempted 
from military service, so that they could continue to work 
on the farms. It was asserted along with this fable that, 
Senator Vardaman had recently purchased a $90,000 Delta 
plantation, and wanted his negro tenants left unmolested. 
As a matter of fact, Mr. Vardaman does not own, and has 
never owned, at any time, a plantation or even a farm. 
Probably he has never owned a foot of land anywhere at 
any period of his life. Certainly he owned no more than 
a residence on a lot in a town or city. 

The charge that he opposed the negroes going to war 
was based on a part of a sentence taken from a speech 
delivered in the Senate on August 16, 1917. This speech 
was made with reference to the St. Louis race riots ; and, 



— 151 — 

using this as a text, he took occasion to go pretty thoroughly 
into the negro question, and particularly with reference 
to arming and training negroes as soldiers. This speech 
has been reproduced in THE ISSUE in its entirety, and 
is a speech worth preserving. There is nothing objection- 
able in it, but on the contrary the whole of it is highly 
commendable. 

One part of that speech is as follows : 

"May I be permitted, Mr. President, to say 
that it was a mistake against which I warned the 
Administration, when the President of the United 
States and the Congress called the negro of this 
country to arms. Senators who doubt the wisdom 
or justification of my views will become disillu- 
sioned if they will take the pains to read the ex- 
periences of other nations in dealing with this 
ponderous problem. I maintain that compulsory 
military training will leave a problem in this coun- 
try more difficult of solution, more disastrous, I 
fear, in its consequences than the sudden emanci- 
pation of the slave a half century ago." 
Just before the above he said: 

"Equality at the ballot box means negro dom- 
ination, with all the horrors that the term impli- 
cates and I am advised that this military experi- 
ence in war is to be followed by compulsory mili- 
tary training." 

The words in italics are the words his enemies used 
against him. Taken in connection with the entire speech 
it shows that he was speaking of Conscription or Universal 
Military Training in times of peace. It was proposed that 
a regiment of young men be trained in each Congressional 
District, annually. In Mississippi, these regiments would 
of course consist of a majority of negroes. This is what 
Senator Vardaman opposed. 



—152— 

As a matter of record the negro was useless as a 
soldier in the World War. He could have been used as a 
laborer, and this was 1 what he was finally used as. Senator 
Vardaman expressed his views, and favored putting the 
negro in overalls, and setting him to work, without wasting 
time and money in attempting to train him as a fighting 
man. His idea was to form labor battalions, and this was 
done later on by the War Department. 

Even such negrophile papers as The Nution and Har- 
vey's Weekly editorially admitted that the negro was not 
only useless as a soldier; but that when he was put into 
the battle, he gave way, and seriously endangered the army 
on either side of the position assigned to him. 

SOLDIERS PAY. , 

Still another charge against Senator Vardaman was 
that he had opposed the increase in pay for the soldiers. 
Mendacity could go no further than this. The record shows 
that Vardaman was one of the proponents of the law in- 
creasing the pay of the soldier boys from $15 a month to 
$30.00 a month. 

Further than this, Vardaman and Hardwick offered an 
amendment, providing that soldiers sent over-seas should 
receive additional compensation amounting to $50.00 a 
month, and providing further that the money for this ad- 
ditional pay should be raised by placing a special tax of 
10 f ; on incomes in excess of $100,000.00. This amendment 
was decisively defeated. Had it passed the soldiers would 
have received $80 a month, while over-seas, and the money 
would have been taken out of the profits of the profiteers 
of the country. It could have injured no one, because any 
individual with an income of $100,000 a year, can certainly 
afford to contribute 10 % of it to the boys who were fight- 
ing and dying to make possible those profits. 



—153— 



Not only this, but Senator Vardaman, worked all the 
time for the interests of the soldiers. As a Senator he 
was called upon hundreds of times to help some soldier 
who was in need of assistance of some kind. Boys— sick, 
crippled imprisoned, or whatever their distressed condi- 
tion-could find a friend and advocate in the Senator from 
Mississippi. 

He voted for, and worked for, the Bills to provide them 
with insurance, and ether benefits. The record shows that 
Vardaman, was always on hand to vote for, work for and 
propose any measure that would inure to the benefit of the 
soldiers who were fighting for their country. 

And since his term as Senator expired, he has con- 
tinued t3 advocate measures for the soldiers. He has al- 
ways favored giving the injured soldiers special training, 
providing hospitals for those who need them, and making 
every provision for their comfort and well being. Not only 
this, but he has strongly advocated the "bonus" or adjusted 
compensation. While in the Senate he offered a measure 
to pay each man, whether private or officer a sum based 
upon his length of service, and regardless of rank. Had 
this measure been adopted, we would have disposed of the 
bonus, and the soldiers would have been paid and would 
have received their money at the time of greatest need, and 
that was when they were discharged from the army 

Any charge that Senator Vardaman was hostile to the 
soldiers will lose its force, when we know that his son was 
a soldier in the fighting department in France, and along 
with that son were warm personal friends and numerous 
relatives. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Differences With President Wilson. 

"We must not contradict, but instruct him that contra- 
dicts us; for a madman is not cured by another running- mad 
also." 

— Antisthenes. 

i\ GOOD many people apparently have thought that the 
J\ duty of a Senator was to obey the orders of the Presi- 
^ dent of the United States. As a matter of fact the 
legislative department is the most important of the three 
departments, because it must act first, and the Executive 
is supposed to execute the orders or laws of the legislative 
department. Neither a Senator nor the President is pre- 
sumed, either in law or morals, to obey any other official. 
Each is equally independent. 

It is therefore true that when a senator disagrees with 
the President, it is not a crime in itself. Whatever offense 
there is consists solely in being wrong, whether for or 
against the president. In party government as we have it 
to-day, a member of Congress, either Senator or Repre- 
senative, is under obligation to regard faithfully the party 
platform; observing, of course, his first obligation to the 
Constitution. To obey the president and violate the 
party platform is reprehensible in any Senator; and to 
observe the party platform, and to dis-obey the president 
is highly commendable in any senator. Hence, in measur- 
ing a Senator's loyalty, we pay no attention to his attitude 
toward the president, but we observe only the Senator's 
attitude toward the Constitution, toward the party plat- 
form, and toward the traditions and customs of his party. 



—155— 

There is a rather long list of differences between 
Senator Vardaman and President Wilson. But, this con- 
stitutes a small fraction of the many things which each 
of the two men was called upon to give his official approval 
or disapproval. In the vast majority of matters, Varda- 
man and Wilson were in accord. In the Democratic Cam- 
paign Text Book for 1916 is a list of sixty-six distinct 
things upon which the Democratic Party based its claim 
for a return to power. Senator Vardaman favored nearly 
all these. One of the exceptions was the repeal of the 
Panama Tolls Bill, which we have discussed before. 

The first official differences between the two men 
arose ever the confirmation of a negro as Register of the 
Treasury. The President appointed an Oklahoma negro 
to this position, and Vardaman was able to prevent his 
confirmation by the Senate. 

Next, the President wished to appoint a negro as 
Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia. Mr. Var- 
daman opposed this nomination, and won. The President 
then appointed an Italian to the position. Thus, twice the 
President went down in defeat by the Senator from Mis- 
sissippi, and from then on, Senator Vardaman enjoyed the 
cordial hatred of the President. 

Again the President sent in the nomination of a negro 
as Judge of the Court of Appeals of Washington. Varda- 
man lost his fight against this negro. The negro's nomi- 
nation was confirmed ; therefore this negro judge continued 
to "dispense justice" to white and black. 

The fourth clash over the race question came when 
Vardaman insisted upon a segregation of the white and 
negro employes in the Postal Building in Washington. He 
was successful temporarily. 



—156— 

In these first four differences, one will decide for 
Vardaman or Wilson, as his racial feelings dictate. 

Closely akin to the race question, and to some extent 
involving it, is the immigration question. The large influx 
of inferior foreign blood is a very serious problem for the 
Republic. Those who talk of America as a "refuge for the 
oppressed," and speak of "assimulating the foreigners" 
talk arrant nonsense, if not out-right infidelity to the Re- 
public. America will not be a haven for the oppressed, if 
we continue to receive into our blood the alien flood that 
has been pouring into our veins, but instead, America will 
be the land of the oppressed. 

As will be pointed out in the Chapter on the Race ques- 
tion no people can be greater than the race to which they 
belong. The colored races of Southern Europe, to say noth- 
ing of the colored races of other countries, are to-day in- 
capable of maintaining a stable government. They must 
sink to the level of their capacity. 

We do not improve a herd of cattle by breeding into it 
scrub stock. Neither can you advance a white nation by 
admitting into it peoples incapable of self government, 
peoples forever barred from rising to the level of the white 
man. And no man is a white man, who is anything else. 
The tawny, the dark, the swarthy, and other people with 
skins NOT WHITE, are not white folks, and somewhere and 
at some time back in the lives of their fathers, has' been an 
infusion of colored blood. 

On this question Senator Vardaman and President Wil- 
son differed. Congress passed a law applying the literacy 
test to the immigrants. It was admittedly defective, but 
it was better than nothing, and would help keep out some 
of the undesirables. Wilson vetoed this Bill, and Varda- 



—157— 

man was one of the Senator's who voted to pass it over his 
veto. Which was right? 

Not only did Vardaman vote to pass it over the Presi- 
dent's veto, but he proposed an amendment to keep cut the 
negroes and mixed bloods from the West Indies, and other 
countries of that character. Space forbids, a discussion of 
this matter, but the reader will readily understand the issue. 
Vardaman was surely standing by the traditions of the 
Democratic party when he favored a white man's govern- 
ment, and the exclusion of negro and mixed blood immi- 
grants. 

Another difference was over the Panama tolls ques- 
tion, discussed in a previous chapter. On this question 
Vardaman stood by the platform of his party, and the 
campaign promises of the candidate of his party for presi- 
dent. 

The Ship Purchase Bill has been discussed before. As 
a corollary of that bill, there was the proposal of Senator 
Vardaman that the distressed cotton growers of the South 
be loaned $250,000,000 on their cotton crop of 1914. He 
proposed that this loan be made by the government upon 
cotton in bonded and insured warehouses, on the basis of 
ten cents a pound. 

The" President denounced this as "Socialism run mad, 
and Populism gone to seed:' The security for this loan 
(cotton) was the best in the world. It never deteriorates, 
and there could never have been any doubt about the value 
of the security. 

While the cotton growers could not benefit by a loan 
from the Government, the New York Bankers, were able 
to borrow $400,000,000 from the Government, buy the cot- 



—158- 
ton of the South, for $30 a bale, and insure it with the 
Government for $70 a bale. Thus the government, which 
could not loan to the grower $50 a bale, could, and did, loan 
the Bankers money to buy the same cotton, and could, and 
did, insure it for New York speculators for $70 a bale. To 
loan the farmers was "Socialism run mad, and Populism 
gone to seed," but to loan to the bankers, was "preventing 
a panic." 

Later on the government loaned millions upon top of 
millions to the railroads of the country, with inadequate 
security. This was NOT Socialism gone mad, but sound 
finance! And still later our government loaned foreign 
governments about ten billions of dollars, or forty times 
as much as Vardaman asked for the Southern farmers. 
This may not have been "Popolism gone to seed;" but it 
certainly was not sound finance, because these foreign 
governments have paid neither the loan nor the interest on 
the loan. 

The Federal Reserve Bank has been previously dis- 
cussed. On this Mr. Vardaman and Mr. Wilson disagreed. 
While this law was in course of passage, Senator Varda- 
man called attention to the evil it could do, and argued 
against placing so much power in the hands of a small 
group of men. Mr. Vardaman opposed the appointment of 
Trust Magnates on the Reserve Board. His wisdom has 
been vindicated by the infamous acts of this Board in 1920 
when it carried out its policy of "deflation," and wrecked 
the prosperity of the South for ten years to come. The 
stricken cotton growers of the South can best judge as to 
which man was right on this question. 

There was a group of questions on which the two men 
differed, and on which the President changed his mind. In 
every case the President either stood with Vardaman at 



—159— 

first and deserted him, or else disagreed with him, and 
later accepted Vardaman's position. Among these quest- 
ions were, Preparedness, War, Conscription, Espionage 
Laws, Raising War Money, Armed Neutrality, Prohibition 
and Woman Suffrage. 

"Preparedness" was stoutly opposed by Mr. Wilson for 
some two years, and was the subject of several speeches 
and addresses to Congress. He finally changed his mind, 
and thus took issue with Vardaman, who had agreed with 
Wilson, when he opposed "preparedness." 

War was anathema to Wilson until after his election in 
1916. He and Vardaman stood together until that time; 
and they stood together upon the issue of keeping out of 
Mexico. Again Wilson changed his mind, and deserted Var- 
daman. 

The Armed Neutrality Bill has been discussed. Var- 
daman said on March 2, 1917 that it would probably cause 
war, and Mr. Wilson said the same thing on April 2, 1917. 
Vardaman knew it thirty days before Wilson. 

Conscription was vigorously opposed by Mr. Wilson. 
He lost his Secretary of War, Mr. Lindley M. Garrison, 
because they could not reconcile their differences on the 
subject. In his address to Congress in December 1914, Mr. 
Wilson spoke on "preparedness," and in discussing the 
army said, in part: "It will be right enough, right Ameri- 
can policy, based upon our accustomed principles and prac- 
tices, to provide a system by which every citizen who will 
volunteer for the training may be made familiar with the 
use of modern arms, the rudiments of drill and maneuver, 
and the maintenance and sanitation of camps." After 
further advocating such training he said again, "such a 
method smacks of true American ideas." and then he said: 



—160— 

"More than this carries with it a reversal of the whole his- 
tory and character of our policy." 

Later when Wilson changed his mind, and favored 
Conscription, and Vardaman still opposed it, they said 
Vardaman was "pro-German." 

The Espionage Laws have been discussed, and Mr. Wil- 
son's attitude on the question stated, with quotations from 
his book. But he changed his mind, lost his self-possession, 
to use his own words. Vardaman did not. 

In August 1917, Mr. Vardaman made a speech favor- 
ing the taxation of war profits to pay the expenses of the 
war. He outlined a program for paying the expenses of 
the war without issuing bonds, in such great quantities. 
For this he was roundly denounced as "disloyal." The 
"patriots" said he was trying "to make the war un-popular" 
as if its popularity rested upon the liberty to coin exorbi- 
tant profits from war contracts. 

A newspaper circulating in Mississippi, on September 
3, 1917, wrote an editorial attack upon the Senators favor- 
ing high excess profits taxes: Speaking of the Senators 
the editorial said : 

"Another seeks to make the war unpopular 
by taxing business to death. In morals, if not in 
law, even demagogues are assumed to intend the 
inevitable consequences of their talk. These pro- 
German legislators are therefore guilty of treason 
quite as much as if they were actually enlisted 
beneath the Hohenzollern standard." 

In May 1918, Mr. Wilson came before Congress and 
said that we were raising too large a proportion of our war 
expenses by loans, and must raise more by taxation. He 



—161— 

Mr. 



took exactly Vardaman's position of August 1917 
Wilson said: "The profiteering that cannot be got at by 
the restraints of conscience and love of country can be got 
at by taxation. There is such profiteering now, and the 
information with regard to it is available and indisputable. 

Thus Mr. Wilson and his followers enlisted under the 
"Hohenzollern standard," along with the pro-German, Var- 
daman Again Vardaman was about nine months ahead ot 
Wilson, and we see this difference closed in Vardaman's 
favor. 

Prohibition has always been a matter of profound con- 
viction with Senator Vardaman. He favored it long years 
before it was popular in Mississippi, and continued to advo- 
cate it in Congress. He wanted to amend the Food Control 
Bill so that grain needed for foodstuffs could not be used 
in the manufacture of liquor. Again he was denounced 
as pro-German, and as desiring to cripple the business in- 
terests of the country. These business interests being the 
millionaire brewers and distillers. 

Mr Wilson took a personal hand in the fight, and se- 
cured the defeat of the amendment favored by Vardaman 
But before the end of the war, the measure was found 
necessary, and we had war-time prohibition, ending finally 
in the adoption of the amendment to the Constitution of 
the United States forbidding the manufacture of alcoholic 
beverages. Mr. Wilson has always opposed prohibition, 
and his clash with Vardaman, was the natural result of op- 
posite views. 

Woman Suffrage was another point of difference. 
Mr. Vardaman has favored woman suffrage for many years. 
He desired that the women be given the ballot by state 
action, and not Federal action, but when the action of the 
states failed, he favored the Federal Amendment. 



—162— 

Mr. Wilson opposed suffrage for women, until cir- 
cumstances forced him to accept it. At first he refused to 
receive the suffrage delegates. Later he received them, 
and coldly informed them that his party was silent on the 
subject, and that he must also be silent. Still later he 
urged state action on the subject, but opposed the Federal 
Amendment. After the White House had been picketed by 
the women, and many of them jailed, and after the women 
had won the fight, Wilson came out as the strongest advo- 
cate of suffrage in the country, and not only insisted upon 
Congress passing the Resolution submitting the amend- 
ment to the states, but attempted to coerce the state legis- 
latures into ratifying the amendment. 

Thus, taking the differences of Wilson and Vardaman, 
no candid and intelligent man, can arrive at any conclusion, 
other than that Vardaman has been consistently right, al- 
ways in accord with his party, and invariably standing by 
the traditions and customs of democracy. 

Another difference was about the efficient conduct of 
the war, involving no special measure, but applying to the 
whole subject of war. A number of Senators opposed Con- 
gress' delegating all its powers to the president, and assum- 
ing no responsibility of its own. But these Senators were 
in the minority. For months, it was a jest that all Bills 
started off with the words : "THE PRESIDENT SHALL 
HAVE POWER." The result was that the men appointed 
by the president felt themselves responsible to no one ex- 
cept the president, and that president, too busy to think of 
his ordinary Constitutional duties, began to let things go 
wrong. 

The wholesale graft and thievery practiced, and the 
frauds perpetrated on the government, were the inevitable 



—163— 

fruits of the policy desired by the President and agreed to 
by Congress. 

Finally some of the Senators refused to be quiet and 
endure the existing condition. Senator Chamberlain made 
charges against the failure of the war department to func- 
tion. The President very promptly called Senator Cham- 
berlain a liar, in polite words ; his language being that Sen- 
ator Chamberlain had been guilty of a "willful distortion 
of the truth." Senator Chamberlain, replied by showing 
the conditions existing, and stating the facts. The result 
was a scurrying to cover, and a strenuous effort to do bet- 
ter. 

Senator Vardaman, as a member of the Commerce 
Committee, exposed the Hog Island frauds, and assisted in 
uncovering other frauds. 

Other Senators attacked the Air Craft Department. 
From this action on the part of these Senators, the whole 
war machinery, took on new life. Under the lash of sena- 
torial criticism and aroused public opinion, the whole war 
program was speeded up. The result was that money was 
saved, and what was far more important, lives were saved. 
The soldiers boys in France reaped the benefit through bet- 
ter arms and equipment, food and clothing, and other sup- 
plies. 

In this matter, courage of the highest order was de- 
manded. Senator Vardaman had to oppose the President who 
was supported by the press and that public opinion which 
was governed by the press. The Senator also had to oppose 
the most powerful financial interests in the world, interests 
intent upon reaping to the full the golden harvest ripening 
daily. Senators Vardaman, Chamberlain and others, can- 
not well be given too much credit for their work. 



—164— 

And yet at the time, these Senators were forced to 
undergo a furious attack from the profiteers and other 
rascals, and the blind partisans of the President. 

And while he incurred 'the opposition of the President, 
in attempting to frustrate the thieves, and lock the stable 
before the horse was stolen, Vardaman was not interested 
in the President. He was intent only upon doing his duty 
and serving the people who had sent him to the Senate. 
Could the President have seen the matter properly, he 
would have realized that Vardaman was in reality his best 
friend, because he, Vardaman, was preventing the things 
that later on caused the downfall of Mr. Wilson. 

The culmination cf the fight of Mr. Wilson against the 
Senators who refused to obey him, came in the elections of 
1918. In a half dozen or more states he openly opposed 
certain men for Congress or the Senate. In none of these 
contests was any question involved other than blind, unhesi- 
tating obedience to the orders of the President. Mr. Wil- 
son did not claim that any of the men he opposed was 
guilty of violating the party platform, or of any official or 
private misconduct. He only said that they were opponents 
of "MY" administration. 

Of course, blind, unhesitating obedience is a vice, and 
not a virtue. No man should enslave his reasoning mind 
and his free will with the superstition that obedience is a 
virtue. Each man should act in freedom according to 
reason ; this is the true rule. So long as this rule is abided 
by, truth, justice, and goodness have nothing to fear. But 
they must always fear when obedience is substituted for 
reason, and slavery for freedom. 

Conformity with right principles is a virtue ; and non- 
conformity with, or disobedience to wrong principles is a 



—165— 



virtue. Free reasoning should always ascertain and deter- 
mine whether or not principles be right or wrong. 

The intellectual independence maintained and exercised 
by Senator Vardaman is one of the many things which goes 
to make him a great man. 

In the Mississippi election, the usual Wilson letter was 
given to the opposition, to be used when needed. Early in 
July 1918, the press opposing Vardaman announced that 
if there was any doubt about the defeat of Vardaman that 
Wilson "will certainly speak his mind on the subject:' On 
August 11, the presidential letter was released. .The part 
fhat speaks of the election is as follows : 

"Senator Vardaman has been conspicuous 
among the Democrats in the Senate for his opposi- 
tion to the administration. If the voters of Mis- 
sissippi should again choose him to represent 
them I not only have no right to object; I would 
have no right in any way to criticise them. But I 
should be obliged to accept their action as a con- 
demnation of my administration, and it is only 
right that they should know this before they act. 

Thus we see that Mr. Wilson did not question Varda- 
man's loyalty to the United States, nor his standing as a 
Democrat, but objected to him because of his relation to 
"my administration." 

The attitude of Mr. Wilson toward the presidency was 
but the fulfilment of his earlier ideas upon the subject. In 
his book "Constitutional Government, in the United States" 
he devoted a chapter to the "President." In this he said : 
"The framers of the Constitution made in our President 
a more powerful, because a more isolated, king, than the one 
they were imitating." (Page 74.) 



—166— 

Note that he says the f ramers of the Constitution were 
imitating a king, in creating the office of president. 

Further on in the book, he again speaks of the presi- 
dent as a kind of king, using these words : "The President 
of the United States ivas intended by the makers of the 
Constitution to be a reformed and standardized king after 
the Whig model" (Page 82.) 

Mr. Wilson imputes these ideas to the makers of the 
Constitution, when they were his own ideas ; and when he 
had been elected to the presidency, he attempted to act in 
accord with his notions of the office, and be a "reformed 
and standardized king." 

In another place in his book, Mr. Wilson speaks of 
the methods the president may employ to influence Con- 
gress to enact such measures as he desires. We find him 
using this language: 

"He has no means of compelling Congress ex- 
cept through public opinion. 

"That I say he has no means of compelling 
Congress will show what I mean, and that my 
meaning has no touch of radicalism or iconoclasm 
in it. There are illegitimate means by which the 
President may influence the action of Congress. 
He may bargain with members not only with re- 
gard to appointments, but also with regard to legis- 
lative measures. He may use local patronage to 
assist members to get or retain their seats. He 
may interpose his powerful influence in one covert 
way or another, in contests for places in the Sen- 
ate. He may also overbear Congress by arbitrary 
acts which ignore laws or virtually override them. 
He may even substitute his own orders for acts of 
Congress which he wants but cannot get. Such 
things are not only deeply immoral, but destructive 



—167— 

of the fundamental understandings of constitu- 
tional government and, therefore, of constitutional 
government itself. They are sure moreover, in a 
country of free public opinion, to bring their own 
punishment, to destroy both the fame and the pow- 
er of the man who dares to practice them. No 
honorable man includes such agencies in a sober 
exposition of the Constitution or allows himself to 
think of them when he speaks of the influences of 
'life' which govern each generation's use and in- 
terpretation of that great instrument, our sover- 
eign guide and the object of our deepest rever- 
ence." (Page 71.) 

A careful study of the official record of Mr. Wilson 
will show that he practiced everything that he stated above 
was illegitimate. He used his local patronage to defeat 
members of the Senate. He did it here in Mississippi, when 
he deprived Senator Vardaman of his patronage. He over- 
rode Congress and substituted his own orders for meas- 
ures he desired but could not get ; for example, when he 
authorized the arming of the merchant ships. He certainly 
interposed his "powerful influence in one covert way or 
another," to defeat Vardaman. 

And then, his own prophecy was fulfilled, when such 
acts did "destroy both the fame and the power of the man 
who" dared to practice them. 

Mr. Wilson seems to have proceeded as if he considered 
himself what he thought the makers of the Constitution 
intended him to be, a "reformed and standardized king." 
From some cause or causes, he seems to have regarded 
himself as the state, in much the same manner as King 
Louis XIV of France did. He sought, with all the powers 
at his command, to control the legislative branch of the 
government, and make it the creature of his will ; and in 
this effort he was for a time almost entirely successful. 



—168— 

Only a few Senators and Representatives held out for the 
democratic theory of government, and insisted upon each 
department performing its own functions. 

Mr. Wilson may or may not have realized that, while 
preaching liberty and democracy, he was practicing the 
worse form of tyranny. He may have been simply a 
zealot, ignoring the means, for what he considered a good 
end. Montesquieu, the great French writer of the 
eighteenth century, the man who clearly showed the three 
powers of government— legislative, executive and judicial, 
said : "When the legislative and executive powers are united 
in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, 
there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, 
lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical 
laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner." 

Hence, when Mr. Wilson interfered with state elections 
for members of the Senate or House of Representatives, 
he was destroying in practice the liberty and democracy he 
was teaching by words. His interference in the Mississip- 
pi primary election of 1918, could not better be condemned 
than by his own words quoted above. 

The reply of Senator Vardaman to the President's 
letter was characteristic of the man. The opportunity to 
attack the president was ideal. The opportunity to arouse 
the feelings of his friends, was execellent. Yet, he refused 
to profit by the error of the President's attack in this way, 
and gave out a calm and dignified statement, defending 
himself, but refraining from censure of the president, and 
concluding with the hope that his friends would be pru- 
dent. The statement follows: 

"I am n3t surprised at the President's oppo- 
sition to me. Still it is regrettable that President 



—169— 

Wilson views with petulant intolerance indepen- 
dence of thought or action on the part of a Senator 
or Representative. 

"When I opposed so vigorously, the nomi- 
nation by the President of the negro Register of 
the Treasury, and the negro judge of the District 
of Columbia, and then refused to violate the plat- 
form of the party to support the repeal of the free 
tolls, I incurred his everlasting displeasure. 

"I think President Wilson is the first Demo- 
cratic President in recent years who has under- 
taken to make the test of one's democracy servile 
support of all the measures which he happened to 
favor. It will be recalled that Senators and Rep- 
resentatives have been condemned by the President 
for not being able to change their views upon cer- 
tain measures with the ease and facility which the 
President himself changed. For the good of the 
Republic, thank God, the Senator from 
Mississippi is to be nominated by the unafraid 
white democratic voters of Mississippi and not by 
the dictaton from a citizen of New Jersey. I de- . 
cline to accept the President's statement as true, 
that a vote for my re-election will be taken as a 
vote of condemnation of his administration. Be- 
cause I have supported the administration ninety 
nine times where I have opposed it once. In fact, 
I have opposed the President in but very few in- 
stances and in those cases where I opposed him it 
was where the President proposed to violate the 
party platform and traditions of the Democratic 
party. It is not altogether fair, not by any means 
modest, for one to arrogate to himself inerrency or 
infallibility as President Wilson does, when we 
realize that the Record shows that the President 
has changed his mind on public measures with a 
rapidity and ease that no other President has done, 
of which I have any knowledge. My record as 
Senator from Mississippi has been made with cir- 
cumspection and with an eye single to the interests 
of the people of Mississippi and America. I made 



—170— 

that record to please and to serve the people and 
not to placate or flatter any politician or office 
holder. I am going to be renominated in spite of 
the President's opposition, and my renomination 
will not be, in any way, a condemnation of Presi- 
dent Wilson's administration. I hope my friends 
will speed up the fight. We are going to win this 
fight but we do not want to take anything for 
granted or relax our vigilance until the last vote is 
counted. 

"I hope that this unwarranted interference 
with Mississippi politics will not cause my friends 
to show any resentment by saying or doing any- 
thing that will be in the least improper or impru- 
dent. But I repeat, I hope that they will perform 
their duty and express a brave, incorruptible free- 
man's will when they go to the polls on the 20th of 
August." 

The differences between Mr. Vardaman and Mr. Wil- 
son could be made the subject of greatly extended comment. 
The two men represent the great opposing ideas in govern- 
ment ; Mr. Vardaman standing for the idea of government 
by the people, and Mr. Wilson for the idea of government 
by the few, the theory of government by a "reformed and 
standardized king." 

Mr. Wilson revealed himself by his interference with 
elections in 1918, when he boldly sought to substitute his 
own favorites for the choice of the people. He showed that 
he did not trust the people to select their own officials, but, 
in every instance where the opportunity afforded sought 
to substitute his will for the will of the poeple. 

Mr. Vardaman was similarly tested in the guberna- 
torial campaign of 1915. He refused to take any part in 
the campaign and his best friends did not know his personal 
choice for Governor. He invariably replied in effect, The 



-171 — 



people of Mississippi are more capable of selecting a gov- 
ernor than I am ; I have unlimited confidence in their abili- 
ty to do the right thing and I shall not attempt to use my 
official influence as a United States Senator to influence 
a single voter. 

Thus, as in all other instances Senator Vardaman be- 
lieved in and practiced democracy. He trusted the people 
and believed in their capacity for self government, holding 
that the best government is that government which is 
closest to the people, and whose officials are responsible 
directly and only to those who elected them to office. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
Summary of Accomplishments. 

"When the mists have rolled in splendor 

From the beauty of the hills, 
And the sunshine, warm and tender, 

Falls in kisses, on the rills, 
We may read Love's shining letter 

In the rainbow of the spray; 
We shall know each other better 

When the mists have rolled away. 
We shall know as we are known, 

Nevermore to walk alone, 
In the dawning of the morning, 

When the mists have rolled away." 

<*** N setting forth the life work of a man, it is oftimes 
4| difficult to state accurately and definitely the chief 
thing that he has accomplished. Indeed, it is some- 
times difficult to state any particular thing that has made 
him great. It is like drawing a picture; it does not con- 
sist of one line, or even a few lines, but of many lines. If 
we examined the work of a great painter, we might not be 
able to point out the particular lines that made it a great 
picture, but when we put them all together, and view it as 
a whole we see that it is the work of a master. 

So in the attempt to point out in detail the things that 
have made a man great, we are confronted with the im- 
possible. The very qualities of greatness escape us. 
When we view the life in the perspective, we see that it 
is a great life, but we are unable to enumerate the small 
acts that have made the whole great. 

Thus, if called upon to say wherein General Robert E. 
Lee excelled other men, we could not name the points of 



—173— 

excellence. We could say he was brave that he was gener- 
ous, and chivalrous, that he was a model boy and student, 
that he reverenced his parents, that he was truthful, that he 
loved much, and was utterly unselfish. But hundreds of 
other men have possessed all these qualities, and yet have 
not been great. 

The life of a man is made up invariably of good 
and evil deeds. In some way the great do small harm by 
their evil deeds, and much good by their virtuous ones. 
They must be men or women who have loved people in the 
abstract, who have been willing to sacrifice self for others 
that they do not know, who would die at the stake for a 
principle, and count it a joy to fling away the world fcr 
the cause they believed to be just. At the best our defini- 
tion of the great is a failure ; even the poets cannot express 
it. But why despair? Neither can we describe the glory 
of the sunset, nor explain the awful and splendid beauty of 
the snow crowned mountain. 

In the subject of these sketches we have a man pos- 
sessing all the attributes of the great. N: man ever 
possessed greater courage, both physical and moral. He 
has loved his people with a passionate devotion ; he has been 
willing to sacrifice self for the cause he believed in, and to 
forget ambition in the zeal of the contest. He omitted to 
think of himself in thinking of others, finding his joy in 
the services of the principles that claimed his allegiance. 

Perhaps, the greatest service that James K. Varda- 
man has rendered to the people of Mississippi has been his 
teaching of liberty, democracy, and independence. For 
thirty years, through the press, and by word of mouth he 
has idriven into the minds and hearts of the people the im- 
portance of maintaining their liberties, of acting at all 
time with independence, and preserving at all costs the 
utmost democracy in government. 



—174— 

To the voiceless masses of the people he has been 
more than leader ; he has been prophet and voice. He has 
spoken for the under-dog, the man overwhelmed in the 
strife, for the weak and the fallen, for the man without 
words to plead his cause at the bar of life. To those who 
believed in liberty, he has been an inspiration, and his 
magnificent example has put spirit in the fight, and re- 
newed the flagging courage of those who have borne part 
in the struggle, upon the side of government by the peo- 
ple. He taught the people their rights and aroused their 
courage to maintain them. 

Following roughly the way that he has blazed out, the 
people of Mississippi have thrust off the oligarchy of caste, 
and substituted therefor democracy. The political con- 
vention has been replaced by the primary election, the pol- 
itician by the ballot box, and the schemes of political ma- 
nipulators by the will of the whole people. The whole 
fabric of popular government has been made stronger by 
the work of Mr. Vardaman, and in the future years a 
grateful people will bear witness to that fact. 

Perhaps, his second most valuable work has been in 
impressing upon the people of Mississippi the importance 
of the Race Question. His utterances upon this question 
will yet bring forth fruit, because he has taught the eternal 
truth, and ultimately that must triumph. Senator Var- 
daman has not borne malice to the negro, or other infer- 
ior races, but he has insisted that the negro could not live 
in peace with the white man upon terms of social and po- 
litical equality, and the best interests of both races de- 
manded that the government be wholly in the hands of the 
white man. 

This subject is discussed in a later chapter, so that 
here the reader is reminded only that the great work of 



—175— 

Vardaman has been to create interest in the subject, to 
keep alive the truth, to agitate for it and to make the peo- 
ple think about the importance of the subject. The 
pioneer work that he has done, will not be "love's labor 
lost" ; but, in the years to come, other men will carry for- 
ward his program to a successful conclusion. 

The probable third great service that Senator Varda- 
man has rendered has been his whole hearted work in be- 
half of humanitarian measures. These include prohibi- 
tion, anti child labor laws, and our treatment of the in- 
mates of our state eleesmosynary institutions, and our 
state penitentiary. Each of these subjects deserves treat- 
ment at length, but space forbids. 

Vardaman's work in behalf of the Penitentiary, and 
his reformation of that institution has been briefly treat- 
ed in the chapter on his work as Governor. Mention has 
also been made in regard to his work for the Hospitals for 
the Insane, the Deaf and Dumb Institute, and the Blind 
Institute. These, and other state institutions, as well as 
the state colleges, still bear the imprint of his work as 
Governor, evidencing his great interest in those who com- 
mand our sympathy and demand our assistance in the strug- 
gle of life. 

The question of Child Labor early enlisted the inter- 
est of Senator Vardaman, as did every other humanitar- 
ian question. As Governor he called attention to the nec- 
essity of laws preventing the exploitation of child labor in 
factories. He urged with all the fervor at his command 
the expansion of our schools for the training of the white 
children of the state. 

In the Senate of the United States, he was one of the 
strongest advocates of laws against child labor. His speech 



—176— 

in the Senate, August, 1916, is a classic on the subject. If 
space allowed it would be reproduced here. The follow- 
ing extract will give the reader an idea of its character : 

"We all realize that the child in the cotton 
mills and in the factory who breathes the dust- 
laden, lint-poisoned, nephitic atmosphere of the 
damp, poorly ventilated room of the factory be- 
comes a stunted specimen of humanity unable and 
unfit to appreciate and enjoy the privileges of cit- 
izenship in this free country. I have seen them 
with their little pinched faces, hollow chests, 
starved bodies, and poisoned souls go out of this 
industrial prison after being confined 10 or 12 
hours, not with the elastic step of childhood, the 
flush of health in the face, and the bounding spirit 
of the normal boy, but rather like old men worn 
and wasted, with the horizon of life fringed with a 
cloud of hopeless pessimism. The picture was in- 
delibly impressed upon my memory. 

" 'Down all the stretch of hell tc its last gulf 
There is no shape more terrible than this 
More tongued with censure of the world's blind greed, 
More fraught with menace to the universe.' 

"And I said to myself, no government can 
prosper and long survive that would permit such a 
wrong to be clone to even one of its most insignifi- 
cant and unimportant citizens. 

"No State will be strong very long whose men 
and w:men come from that unfortunate class. Like 
begets like in the physical world, and the rose will 
not grow from the seed of the thistle. Therefore, 
the wrong is not only to the generation living, but 
it is a crime — a capital crime, against these yet un- 
born. What reason can be given, what statement, 
that rises to the dignity of argument, can be made 
in favor of such a system ?"- 

In this fight for the children, Senator Vardaman was 
supported by only a few of the Southern Senators. The 
New Orleans Item, a newspaper intensely hostile to Senator 



—177— 

Vardaman, published a cartoon showing a forked street, a 
factory on one branch and a school on the other. Children 
were marching down this street, and a finger pointed to the 
school. The caption said : "Ransdell and Vardaman voted 
to send them there." No other Southern Senator was re- 
ferred to. 

The Commercial-Appeal of Memphis, has always been 
intensely opposed to Vardaman. Yet it was constrained to 
give him favorable mention for his work and speech for the 
Child Labor Bill. The following is part of an editorial 
from that paper: 

"Senator Vardaman of Mississippi has come 
into the clear. His splendid defense of the nation- 
al child labor bill certainly redounds to his credit. 

"On the contrary, the opposition offered by 
Senator Lee Slater Overman of North Carolina is 
most discreditable. 

"The reason that he opposes the bill is ob- 
vious. North Carolina is a State of cotton mills, 
and because of the cheapness of child labor the mill 
manufacturers turn themselves into child-snatch- 
ers and take little ones as soon as they are able to 
walk and thrust them into the mills. 

''There are cotton mills in Mississippi employ- 
ing child labor, but Senator Vardaman ivas big 
enough, humane enough, man enough to put his 
fingers on the lobby and declare himself for the 
children of Mississippi- 

"The South today applauds the action of Mis- 
sippi's Junior Senator. Such men mean the regen- 
eration of the South. The opposition, led by Sen- 
ators Overman," Bryan and Works, base their oppo- 
sition on the ground that such a measure is the 
usurpation of State rights. 



—178— 

"The excuse is so palpably flimsy that it is 
not worth serious consideration. 

"States enacted laws against the sale of habit- 
creating drugs. When the Federal government 
enacte.l a similar measure the question of State 
rights was never injected. 

"The fact is that States have enacted laws for 
the protection of children, but the child labor laws 
are rarely enforced. There are adroit ways of 
evading the factory inspectors of the State, but 
when the Federal government seeks to enforce a 
law, it is enforced. That is all there is to it. Men 
who laugh at State courts respect and bow with 
deference to the Federal courts. 

"The national child labor law is a measure 
which should receive the full and hearty support 
and co-operation of every Senator with a spark of 
human kindness in his breast. It is a measure 
advocated and urged by the child workers of the 
Union. The opposition comes from States in 
which mill operators employ children, and while 
the Senators opposing the bill may feel that they 
are acting in the interests of their constituents, 
they must in their inner heart also recognize the 
fact that they are working against the best inter- 
ests of society." 

No other Senator was so commended. And it said 
"the South today applauds the action of Mississippi's Jun- 
ior Senator. Such men mean the regeneration of the 
South." And that was prohpecy. Could better things be 
said by friend or enemy? What man had not rather have 
said of him, and deserve it, what the Commercial-Appeal 
said of Senator Vardaman than to be the marauding em- 
peror of the world? 

The record of Senator Vardaman on the problem of 
Child Labor is in every way characteristic of the man. Any 
one who suffers an injustice at once commands the sympa- 



—179— 

thy of Jas. K. Vardaman, and once his sympathy is enlisted, 
he throws his whole heart into the fight. As one of his 
admirers once expressed it : "He gives his sympathy, and 
throws himself in for good measure." 

Closely allied with the Child Labor question, is that 
of labor in general. During his term as Senator he was 
called upon twenty seven times to vote upon measures in- 
volving the rights of labor. These measures were not all 
labor measures, but were questions of interest to all work- 
ers. 

The record shows that 19 times he voted for labor, 3 
times he is recorded as voting against the interests of labor, 
and 5 times he is recorded as not voting. When every im- 
portant measure was before the Senate, he was present, 
voting and working for the interests of labor. The nega- 
tive votes were upon unimportant matters. For a more 
complete statement of his labor record, the reader is re- 
ferred to the appendix, where Senator Vardaman's labor 
record is given, exactly as compiled by the American Fed- 
eration of Labor. 

Another great humanitarian measure that Senator 
Vardaman materially assisted in passing through Congress 
was the Seaman's Law. For years, and years, the seamen 
of this country were subjected to Laws that made of the 
sailors almost slaves. These laws were such that few free- 
dom loving Americans would enlist in the maratime ser- 
vice of the country. Senator Vardaman and other indepen- 
dent and radical Senators were successful in securing the 
passage of a much better law for the sailors. So impor- 
tant was this law, that it is prominently listed as one of 
the accomplishments of the Democratic Administration. 
The Democratic Campaign Text Book (1916) says at page 
46: 



—180— 

"SEAMAN'S ACT AND SAFETY AT SEA. 
— By a series of laws, chief of which is the Sea- 
man's Act, working conditions of sailors in the 
American Merchant service are improved and pre- 
cautions are taken to avoid the fearful loss of life 
at sea that accompanied the Titantic disaster." 

Senator Vardaman helped write that law, and his Com- 
mittee carried the fight to victory. The Seaman's Union, 
to show their appreciation, had a beautiful picture made, 
entitled "THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY," and one was pre- 
sented to Senator Vardaman because of the leading part 
he took in the passage of the law. This picture hangs in 
his office to-day, mute evidence of the work that he has 
done for the man who labors. 

This picture contains photographs of the Committee 
that had the Bill in charge, and the President of the United 
States. It may seem strange that in this group of state- 
men, are President Wilson and Senators Vardaman, Wil- 
liams, (Miss.) and LaFollette. 

The Seaman's Act was vigorously opposed by the great 
monied interestst of the country ; but, as always, Senator 
Vardaman was found on the side of labor and opposed to 
the Interests. 

Measures that may be classed as lobor measures, were 
the bills and amendments affecting the postal employes of 
the country. The postal employes, taken as a whole, are, 
and have always been, underpaid. Senator Vardaman 
voted and worked to increase the compensation of the pos- 
tal employes in Washington, and in all the postoffices 
throughout the country, and to provide shorter hours and 
better working conditions for them. 

He also helped to increase the compensation of mail 
clerks on trains, and steamboats, and to give them shorter 
hours and better working conditions. 



— 181 — 



Senator Vardaman was always in favor of increased 
Rural Free Delivery service, and for better pay for the R. 
F D. Carriers. In 1918, he was the leader in the movement 
to better the conditions, and give increased pay to the pos- 
tal employes. He made a strong fight for the R. F. D. Car- 
riers and won. The R. F. D. News, under date of May ? K , 
1918,' carried a heading the "Carrier's Loyal Senate 
Friends." The following reference was made to Varda- 
man of Mississippi : 

-Senator James K. Vardaman of Mississippi 
is an especially active member of the Senate Posu 
Office Committee. Matters of Interest to rural free 
delivery have particularly held his close attention 
He was strong for every provision in the posta 
appropriation bill which would give adMmnal 
compensation to rural carriers whom *e declared 
have been sadly neglected. In all his public career 
of many years, Senator Vrdaman has stood out as a 
fighter for what he thought ivas right and just. 
Shortly after he won this fight, Senator Vardaman 
offered an amendment increasing the pay of fourth class 
postmasters. Nearly all of these are rural offices with 
small political influence. They have always been neglected, 
but Senator Vardaman took up the fight, and won them 
a 20 per cent increase in compensation. 

The following is a letter he received from the editor of 
"The Postmaster's Advocate:" 

"My dear Senator : Permit me to express my 
sincere thanks for your introduction of the amend- 
ment granting relief to Postmasters of the Fourth 
Class whose salaries are $50 or less per quarter 
Had it not been for your championship there is 
every reason to believe they would have been over- 
looked. 

"Your noble and praiseworthy act is in accor- 
dance with the best principles of true Amencan- 
i sm __i. e ., justice to the weak. 



—182— 

"Scattered broadcast over this, land are ap- 
proximately 20,000 offices of this class—neces- 
sary, but comparatively unimportant, cogs in our 
vast postal machine. Into the lives of these de- 
serving men a little more of the sunshine of happi- 
ness will filter as a result of your beneficent action, 
and in their behalf I extend to you their heartfelt 
thanks, their profund gratitude and their unswerv- 
ing loyalty. 

"Again thanking you for your kindly interest, 
with high personal regard and best wishes, 

Very sincerely, 

V. H. Stonesifer, Editor." 

This letter was dated May 16, 1918. Pretty high 

praise for a "traitor" to receive? Yet this editor lived in 

Washington, and knew Senator Vardaman's record in 
full. 

The Jane 1918 issue of the The Postmaster's Advocate 
carried a cut of Senator Vardaman on its front page, and 
all the rest of the page was filled with references to him. 
In the course of an editorial, this paper discussed the work 
of Senator Vardaman for the postmasters, and after tell- 
ing of his work, said : 

"Many a man has won eternal fame by espous- 
ing a cause that has been press-agented until the 
public has come to believe its champion is a mod- 
ern crusader. It is another matter to fight the 
battle of the weak or oppressed, and he who 'breaks 
a lance' in their defense may not hope to get a place 
on the front pages of our great daily newspapers. 
Such a man is the distinguished Senator from Mis- 
sissippi ; and if the gratitude, affection and loyalty 
of the members of the National League of Post- 
masters of the United States can in any way com- 
pensate him, they are his to repletion. 



—183— 

"A word about the life, struggles and honors 
that have come to James K. Vardaman — humani- 
tarian" 

Then follows a short sketch of his career. A striking 
sentence is this : "The Senator is not popular with the sec- 
tion of the press of the country which represents the "In- 
terests." And in another place this editorial writer said: 
"Before this appears in print county, district and State 
conventions of postmasters ivill have lauded his name and 
extolled the American spirit of justice and fair play that 
animated this distinguished legislator in championing the 
cause of the 'under dog.' 

Odd as it may seem, while the rest of the nation was 
honoring Senator Vardaman, his own state, was engaged 
in defeating him for re-election, at the behest of the "In- 
terests" that he had fought. While other states were hon- 
oring Senator Vardaman as a "humanitarian," a part of 
his own people were waging against him a campaign of 
abuse and misrepresentation, unparalleled in the history of 
the commonwealth. 

Closely allied to humanitarian measures, is the ques- 
tion of prohibition. Senator Vardaman has always been 
an advocate of prohibition, holding that liquor is injurious 
to men, mentally, physically and spiritually. His ability 
and his steadfastness in the cause of prohibition will be 
proven by the two incidents related below. 

In 1916 the Legislature of Mississippi enacted a dras- 
tic prohibition law. The liquor interests prepared to make 
a fight against this law, and resort was had to the Referen- 
dum, then recently inserted in the Constitution of Mississip- 
pi. In the summer of 1916, enough signatures were secured 
to the Referendum petitions to call for an election. In the 
fall, the prohibitionists prepared to make a great statewide 



—184— 

fight for the liquor law. They sent to Washington for 
whom? Senator Vardaman of course, and asked him to 
come down and lead the fight. He came. A meeting was 
held in the Court House in Jackson, and there Vardaman 
pledged his entire time to the cause, and agreed to take the 
stump for prohibition. No other Mississippi Congress- 
man or Senator was called upon. All eyes turned to the 
Junior Senator. 

Later the Supreme Court held that the Referendum did 
not apply to laws enacted before it was inserted in the 
Constitution, so the election was never held on the liquor 
question, and the proposed campaign was abandoned. 

The next incident occurred in 1918. A fight was be- 
ing made in the Congress to pass a war-time prohibition 
law, and forbid the manufacture of grain into alcoholic 
liquors. A telegram was sent by the Southern Baptist Con- 
vention, in session at Hot Springs, Ark., to the United 
States Senate. This telegram was as follows : 

''United States Senate. 

(Care Hon. James K. Vardaman.) 
Washington, D. C. 

"Over 2,000 members of the Southern Baptist 
Convention, Hot Springs, urge the passage of war- 
time prohibition to hasten and insure victory. The 
enormous waste of men, money, food, fuel, and 
other war necessities through the liquor traffic is 
a crime against the men at the front and our God 
and puts our victory in jeopardy. Patriotism de- 
mands action at once. 

(Signed W. H. PATTON." 

Cong. Record June 3, 1918. 

This telegram was signed by a political enemy of Sen- 
ator Vardaman, and a large majority of the delegates from 



—185— 

Mississippi were politically hostile. Yet, the telegram was 
sent to him, because they knew he was for prohibition, and 
would dare to make a fight for it. The President was op- 
posed to war-time prohibition, and the Junior Senator from 
Mississippi, alone of all Southern Senators dared to make 
the fight. He fought, and ultimately won. These two 
instances show that when the crisis comes and the hour de- 
mands men, men of unfaltering courage, even his enemies 
have come to Senator Vardaman and asked and accepted 
his assistance. It also shows that friends and enemies al- 
ways know where to place him, and are never in doubt as 
to his position. 

Another great question that Senator Vardaman has 
been called upon to deal with is the question of trusts and 
combines. As Governor he was confronted with the ques- 
tion in two particular measures ; to- wit, the Railroad Mer- 
ger Bill, and the Land Holding Bill. He was never able to 
secure the adoption of laws that would adequately control 
trusts and combines, but he shaped the policy of the state 
for years to come, and his work as Governor to-day enables 
us to stand on an equal footing with the great corporations. 
The Railroad Merger Bill was a proposed law that 
authorized a railroad to buy another or other railroads pro- 
vided they did not compete with the purchasing road. The 
law was so framed that a small dummy railroad could buy 
any two or more parallel roads, competing ivith each other, 
although not competing with the road purchasing. Gov- 
ernor Vardaman saw through this scheme, found the 
"snake" in the Bill, and vetoed it. His message which will 
be found on pages 45-50 of the House Journal 1906, is a 
complete exposition of the question, and displays a profound 
knowledge of the law and an understanding of the politi- 
cal economy involved. 

It was generally understood that a merger of the Mo- 
bile and Ohio Railroad and the Southern Railroad had been 



—186— 

behind this Bill. The Governor disregarded these Interests 
and performed his duty to the people of the State. That 
was without doubt, one of the bravest acts of his public 
career. 

Another corporation measure, was the land holding bill, 
discussed in Chapter II. The raising of the land hold- 
ing limit would have permitted all the timber of the state 
to have fallen into the hands of the great timber syndicates. 
Even as it now stands, much of the timber, and a large 
per cent of the valuable farming lands of the state belong 
to corporations, and non-residents. 

The veto of these two bills by Governor Vardaman, and 
his general policy of resistance to corporate encroach- 
ment, did much to shape the policy of the State. From his 
administration (1906) to the session of the legislature of 
1922, no group of men dared openly to advocate surrender 
to the corporations, trusts and combines. Mississippi has 
dealt fairly with corporations, but her policy has been to 
compel them to obey the law, just as ordinary citizens are 
made to obey the same law. The policy of the state for 
nearly twenty years has been the policy enunciated and es- 
tablished by Governor Vardaman. 

The fight now being waged by the Fire Insurance 
Trust against the enforcement of the law by the State 
Revenue Agent, is evidence of the power and influence of 
Trusts in Missisippi. It is also evidence of the necessity 
of strict laws for the control of such Interests as cannot be 
got at by the ordinary processes of the law. 

Naturally, Senator Vardaman has always been especial- 
ly interested in the farmers of the country, and some of his 
most effective and valuable work has been in their behalf. 
The Flood Control Bill, was a matter of especial benefit 
to farmers. 



—187— 

He was a leading advocate of the Federal Land Banks, 
and favored their organization along lines that would make 
them especially useful to the small farmer. He materially 
assisted in having them so organized that the granting of 
loans would be on a simple and liberal, yet safe plan. 

He also exerted considerable influence on the Parcel 
Post Bill, which was enacted soon after he reached the Sen- 
ate. The great Interests of the country wanted to make 
the Parcel Post a failure by putting so many restrictions 
and limitations to it, and by fixing the rates so high, that 
shippers could not use it. Senator Vardaman urged against 
the restrictions, and favored a plan that would make it capa- 
ble of rendering the greatest possible service to the people. 
He failed at first, and the Parcel Post, was ironically dubbed 
"the partial post." After awhile Senator Vardaman, 
and other progressive Senators, were able to have the 'aw 
amended so that it worked better. There is still plenty of 
room for improvement, and had Vardaman's views prevailed 
the Parcel Post would to-day be a much greater institution, 
and be rendering a much greater public service. 

Senator Vardaman also accomplished a great deal in 
planning the Postal Savings Banks. He fought the bankers 
of the country, and was able to secure several beneficial 
amendments to the law, making this institution much more 
useful to the People, who are users of the system. 

When the United States found in 1917, that it would be 
necessary for the government to take over and operate the 
railroads, the Bill providing for government operation be- 
came a great issue. The railroads of course wanted all the 
best of the bargain. Senator Vardaman advanced some 
proposals that if adopted, would have prevented much if 
not all the mismanagement, waste, and stealing connected 
with government operation. The advance in freight rates, 



—188— 

and its consequent injury to the entire republic is fresh in 
the minds of the consumers of the country. Senator Var- 
daman did secure some changes that greatly benefitted the 
farmers of the country, in shipping their products. 

Other things that were of especial benefit to the far- 
mer, obtained by Senator Vardaman, were largely increased 
appropriations for the fight against the Boll Weevil, the 
cattle tick, and other insect pests. 

In 1918, the potato weevil appeared in Mississippi. 
Senator Vardaman received a telegram with reference to 
the situation, and when the Agricultural Appropriation Bill 
came before the Senate it required only about ten minutes 
discussion to secure $25,000 with which to destroy the pest. 
The Senators found that Vardaman knew the facts, and they 
had faith in his integrity, and knew that he would not ask 
for money unless it were needed. Hence he secured his 
appropriation without opposition. 

Other measures for the benefit of farmers, are given 
below, brief mention being made of each item. 

Vardaman rendered especially valuable assistance in 
passing a law to prevent gambling in farm products, and to 
prevent the speculators from robbing the farmer of the 
products of his toil. Also he assisted in passsing the Ware- 
house Act, which was of especial benefit to the farmers. 

Another measure that he championed was the Agri- 
cultural Extension Act, by which Federal Aid is rendered 
to the farmers through agents and the Agricultural Colleges. 
It is due to Vardaman that the expenditure of this money 
was kept entirely in the hands of the white man, capable of 
intelligently expending it. This was a service that would 



—189— 

do credit to any man, and for which he deserves the grati- 
tude of all Southern people. 

Vardaman was of great help in getting Federal aid to 
Good Roads, and all his influence was used to prevent the 
Federal Government from assuming control of the roads, 
and the expenditure of state funds. 

Another appropriation that he secured was an appropri- 
ation of $196, 000 to pay the mail carriers in the Southern 
states in the early sixties. For forty five years these claims 
had been presented, and refused They were mostly small 
claims, due to humble men. Nobody had time, or would 
take time to attend to them. But Vardaman tackled the 
job, and secured the appropriation. 

When the government engineers adversely reported the 
item for the Gulfport Harbor, the citizens of the coast 
appealed to Vardaman; and through his influence and his 
work he got the Senate to give Gulfport $150,000 for dredg- 
ing the harbor. 

The House appropriated $30,000 for Pascagoula Har- 
bor; and when the Bill came to the Senate, Vardaman had 
it raised to $80,000. 

For years efforts had been made to get the Federal 
Government to do something for the Choctaw Indians of 
Mississippi. Vardaman took up the matter and secured 
an appropriation of $150,000, to be used in educating the 
Indians, teaching them sanitation, etc. 

It was Vardaman who secured an appropriation of 
$75,000 for a Government exhibit at the proposed Missis- 
sippi Centennial Celebration. 

It was Vardaman who secured an appropriation of 
$150,000 for the Reunion, of the Blue and Gray at Vicks- 
burg. 

When the Mississippi river was threatening to wash 
under some of the banks at Vicksburg, Vardaman was ap- 



—190— 

pealed to, and secured the necessary funds to correct the 
threatened damage. 

The following are measures that were either originated 
by Vardaman, or were strongly supported by him. 

The Anti-Injuction Law. 

The Bill preventing the shipment of liquor into dry 
states. 

The Bill making the District of Columbia dry. 

The Resolution submitting an Amendment to the Con- 
stitution providing for National Prohibition. 

An amendment to the Phillipine Bill, providing for 
Prohibition for the Phillipines. 

The Resolution submitting an Amendment to the Con- 
stitution providing for Woman Suffrage. 

Bills extending the scope of Rural Mail Service. 

The Bill granting more freedom to the Phillipines and 
pledging ultimate independence. 

The Bill preventing the intermarriage of negroes and 
whites in the District of Columbia. 

From the items immediately above, and the other things 
mentioned in this Chapter, along with the discussion of 
events in the other chapters, the reader should have an idea 
of the public service and career of Mr. Vardaman. No at- 
tempt has been made to tell of every accomplishment of 
Mr. Vardaman, but enough to indicate the general character 
of his work. 

And yet there is one other question that deserves con- 
sideration here. That is the proposed repeal of the Fif- 
teenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. Mr. Var- 
daman has, for more than twenty years advocated the re- 
peal of the 15th amendment, and the modification of the 
14th. His enemies have opposed him for this position, and 
their chief argument has been the claim that it "can't be 
done." The answer to this is that anything that ought to 



— 191 — 



be done can be done, if those interested will set their hands 
to the task. 

Frequently the question is asked, "what are these 
amendments, and why should they be changed?" 

The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments 
to the Federal Constitution were adopted immediately al- 
ter the Civil War, and are usually spoken of as the war 
amendments. The fourteenth and fifteenth amendments 
were the product of hysteria and hate, and are now general- 
ly regarded as obnoxious, even by Northern writers. 

The thirteenth amendment simply abolishes slavery, by 
forbidding involuntary servitude, except as punishment 
for crime. 

The fourteenth amendment covers a number of sub- 
jects, and does some things that its framers, perhaps did 
not intend. It is now used as a means for P^tory "in- 
terests to escape the penalties of state laws. Intended Jo 
prevent slavery, it is now used to effect slavery. Among 
the things this amendment provides are: 

1 Defines citizenship, by making "all persons born 
or naturalized in the United States and subject to the juris- 
dictation thereof," citizens of the United States and o the 
states. Prior to this time, the states had defined citizen- 
ship. It makes the negro a citizen. 

2. It disfranchised many of the white people of the 

South. 

3 It forced the franchise upon the negro. 

4 It provides that the representation cf a state in 
Congress shall be reduced when the negroes in the state 

are not allowed to vote. 

5 It instituted the system of pensions by making it 
unlawful to question the validity of debts incurred m the 
payment of pensions and bounties. 



—192— 

6. It made it unlawful to question the validity of the 
Northern war debt. 

7. It forced the repudiation of the Southern war debt, 
and forbid the payment of any claim for loss or emancipa- 
tion of any slave. 

The fifteenth amendment guaranteed the negro the 
right to vote, by forbidding the state to limit the franchise 
on account of "race, color or previous condition of servi- 
tude." 

The repeal of the fifteenth and modification of the 
fourteenth amendments to the Constitution, as advocated 
by Senator Vardaman, would permit the states to control 
the franchise. The state could then provide that only 
white persons may vote. In addition the states could re- 
fuse citizenship to any race that was considered unworthy. 

Senator Vardaman's enemies say that while in the Sen- 
ate he made no progress toward the adoption of his ideas. 
He certainly did, because any effort is progress. He spoke 
for it, and caused people to think about it. He did the 
preliminary work, that is necessary before final accomplish- 
ment. 

Further than this, he forced the Senate to vote on the 
question, twice the only times in the history of the republic. 
When the woman suffrage resolution was before the Senate 
he istroduced an amendment to the resolution providing 
in effect the repeal of the fifteenth amendment. His 
amendment received about twenty five votes, including the 
votes of some Western Senators. When the suffrage reso- 
lution came before the Senate the second time, Senator Wil- 
liams offered the Vardaman amendment, before it was of- 
fered by Senator Vardaman. We are not sure of Mr. Wil- 
liam's motive but it is reasonable to assume that he offered 
the amendment to deprive Senator Vardaman of that privi- 



—193— 

lege. In any event, as a result of Senator Vardaman's 
work, the matter was twice voted on by the United States 
Senate. 

The career of Jas. K. Vardaman is a living witness 
that a man, endowed with high purposes and actuated by 
a desire to serve his people may rise from an humble station 
in life to the highest office within the gift of his people. 
The life story of Daniel Webster is told in a book, entitled 
"From Farm Boy to Senator:' Mr. Vardaman labored un- 
der greater disadvantages than Mr. Webster, and has risen 
equally as high. 

Mr. Vardaman has never had the assistance of any 
political organization, the support of the press, or any 
other agency that controls any appreciable part of public 
opinion. On the contrary he has always been confronted 
with strong well organized opposition, backed up by un- 
limited money, and possessing every means to discredit his 
achievements, and magnify his alleged errors. 

His success in winning elections, in influencing public 
opinion, and in carrying through his program of political 
and economic reform has been won by sheer ability, and the 
strict adherence to truth. 

Taking his record as a whole, it presents a subject that 
may well exhaust the highest terms of praise. One would 
be tempted into the error that would "drown all individuali- 
ty and all character in one foaming chaos of eulogy." Or 
to use the expression of Senator Walthall, "Praise, when 
indiscriminate, or comment, if inapt, may obscure the 
characteristics and achievements of a man of mark, and 
the record of such a man's life ought not to be thus dis- 
figured and defaced." 



—194— 

The record of Mr. Vardaman needs no embellishment. 
When it is simply told, it constitutes a list of achievements 
that does honor to any man. It is a record no part of which 
will ever call for apology or cause any Mississippian to 
bow his head in shame. It is characterized throughout by 
a particularly high standard of official conduct, and per- 
sonal integrity. It is a record marked by independence of 
thought and action ; it is the record of a man guided alone 
by honor and justice. 

Nowhere in that record will you find an official act 
that was performed for selfish purposes, or with the in- 
tent of injuring another. He performed his official duties 
with the one purpose of serving and honoring his people, 
of making them happier and better. Furthermore, in all 
his official record you will find no act done contrary to his 
promises made before election, contrary to the Party Plat- 
form, or at variance with the traditions of his Party and 
his Country. In fact you will not be able to find one in- 
stance where he has been guilty of infidelity to any cause 
he ever stood for. 

He has been tested by all the vicissitudes that try men's 
souls. He has been abused and misrepresented, he has met 
triumph and disaster, victory and defeat, and he has emer- 
ged from each conflict with greater courage and a stronger 
soul. It might be said of him as it has been said of Peri- 
cles, "He did not so much follow as lead the people, because 
he framed not his words to please them, like one who is 
gaining power by unworthy means, but was able and dared, 
on the strength of his character, even to brave their anger 
by contradicting their will." 

He has been called a dreamer, and a visionary. That 
much is true. He has dreamed of people, freed from polit- 
ical and economic bondage, stronger, happier, more blessed. 



—195— 

His vision is of a condition that may be expressed in these 
words: "With want destroyed; with greed changed to 
noble passions ; with the fraternity that is born of equality 
taking the place of the jealousy and fear that now array 
men against each other ; with mental power loosed by con- 
ditions that give to the humblest comfort and leisure ; and 
who shall measure the heights to which our civilization may 
soar?" He knew that the beautiful must ultimately tri- 
umph over the sordid things of life, and — 

"Break like a hush on the soul in wonders of youth, 

And the lyrical dream of the boy is the kingly truth. 

The world is a vapor, and only the vision is real; 

Yea, nothing will hold against hell but the winged ideal." 

There has never been a plan devised by which Mr. Var- 
daman could be made to do a wrong. He was too brave 
to be driven; too modest tobe flattered; too honest to be 
purchased ; and too wise to* be deceived. He steered his 
course by the star of truth, and the compass of justice; he 
would — 

"In spite of the stare of the wise and the world's derision, 
Dare travel the star-blazed road, dare follow the vision." 

The crowning glory of the career of Mr. Vardaman, 
thus far, has been his stand for independence and democ- 
racy. It is a rebuke to the time-server and the opportunist, 
to find a man more willing to shoulder the cross of defeat, 
to surrender a high place, than to surrender his opinion 
and will and to put his conscience in the keeping of another, 
Such men as James K. Vardaman are the flower of modern 
civilization and of the Anglo-Saxon race. 

"Made of un purchasable stuff, 
He went the ways when ways were rough. 
He, when the traitors had deceived, 
Held the long purpose and believed. 
He, when the face of God grew dim, 
Held through the dark and trusted Him; 
Braver soul that fought the mortal way 
And felt that faith could not betray." 



CHAPTER XV. 
The Race Question. 

"The survival of the fittest, which I have here sought to express 
in mechanical terms, is that which Mr. Darwin has call "natural 
selection, or the preservation of favored races in the struggle for 
life.' " 

— Herbert Spencer. 

^r*r HE so called "Race Question" is the most important 
{JL problem confronting, not only Mississippi the South 
and the Nation, but the world. This is true if we 
assume that it is to the interest of the world for mankind 
to go forward as it has in the past thousands of years; if 
we accept as true that our civilization is carrying the races 
of mankind upward and onward. 

If this progress is to continue, it must continue through 
the efforts of the white man, because he alone of all the 
races has been able to make progress, to lead. Take away 
from the world the leadership of the white man, and it 
would speedily sink back into mere animalism. 

Perhaps some one will deny this. We have but to look 
at the downfall of the nations of antiquity for proof. Or 
we may turn to Hayti as a precise example. That island is 
possessed of every advantage of climate and soil. It once 
was peopled with a civilized race. The blacks assasinated 
the whites, and asserted their freedom. The immediate re- 
sult was a reversion to savagery, exactly as the negroes in 
Africa exist in their native state. 

Other examples are all the South American countries 
where the white man mingles his blood with inferior col- 



—197— 

ored races, and ceases to dominate and to lead. Where 
ever the white man withdraws his leadership from colored 
races, these races immediately tend to their level of civili- 
zation. For no race can maintain a higher civilization by 
its own efforts, that it was capable of developing of its 
own initiative. The whole tendency is to the level equal to 
the intellectual and moral qualities of the race. 

We can take a jungle monkey and by careful training, 
teach it certain tricks of civilization, as for example to eat 
with a knife and fork, and to wear clothes. All of this is 
simply super-imposed upon the nature of the monkey. 
Turned loose in the jungle, it would immediately revert to 
type, and become an ordinary monkey, and instead of being 
superior to the jungle monkey, it would likely be inferior. 
Its "civilization" would unfit it for the normal life of a 
monkey. 

This is true in a lesser degree of the attempt to "civi- 
lize" inferior races. The negro has gained nothing from 
his contact with the white man, because Nature has not 
fitted him for civilization. His "civilization" is entirely 
artificial, and is shedded as readily as a coat. 

The Race question then, consists in the struggle to keep 
the races from mingling their blood. It is not a dispute 
as to which is the superior and which the inferior, but the 
continuous assertion that the races are DIFFERENT, and 
must be kept separated racially. It is stated by Prof. Wil- 
liam Benjamin Smith of Tulane University, in the following 
words : 

"What, then, is the real point at issue, and 
what does the South stand for in this contention — 
stand alone, friendless, despised, with the head and 
heart, the brain and brawn, the wealth and culture 
of the civilized world arrayed almost solidly 



—198— 

against her? The answer is simple: She stands 
for blood, for the 'continuous germ-plasm' of the 
Caucasian Race." 

This has been the position of Senator Vardaman. He 
has urged the adoption, by the white man, of a course in 
accord with science, and common sense ; a course proven by 
the bitter experience of other peoples (not races) that have 
fallen into decay, because they committed the fatal error 
of mixing their blood with colored blood. 

In his position, Senator Vardaman has been misunder- 
stood by many of his warmest friends, and persistently mis- 
represented by his political enemies. His enemies have 
asserted that he merely used the race question for the pur- 
pose of winning votes, and had no honest motive. Some of 
his closest friends, have not understood the issues involved, 
and have not appreciated the tremendous importance of 
the question. 

This chapter is inserted in this book of sketches, for 
two purposes. First, to attempt to show the correct views 
of Senator Vardaman. Second, to try to enlist the interest 
of the reader in the great question, the proper solution of 
which is necessary for the preservation of the white man's 
civilization. The following pages, contain a short state- 
ment of the writer's views on the subject, and these views 
are believed by the author to be, in a general way, views en- 
tertained by James K. Vardaman. 

Reverting again to the supreme importance of the 
question, it is here asserted that it is the most important 
question in the world, because every other question affect- 
ing the future of the world can be considered and reconsid- 
ered; decided one way, and later the decision. reversed. But 
the race question cannot be reconsidered, once we adopt the 
policy of miscegenation. 



—199— 

If part of the white race is enslaved by the other, it will 
not change the destiny of the race, because slaves are freed, 
and in the course of time, assume the position of equals. So 
long as the numerical ratio of the whites is maintained we 
are safe. And after all is said, the race question resolves 
itself into the simple one: "Shall the white man mingle his 
blood with the colored races." The supreme importance of 
the question is stressed by Prof. Smith in his book, The 
Color Line, as follows : 

"We affirm, then, that the South is entirely 
right in thus keeping open at all times, at all haz- 
ards, and at all sacrifices an impassable social 
chasm between Black and White. This she MUST 
do in behalf of her blood, her essence, of the stock 
of her Caucasian Race. To the writer the cor- 
rectness cf this thesis seems as clear as the sun — 
so evident as almost to forestall argument; nor can 
he quite comprehend the frame of mind that seri- 
ously disputes it. But let us look at it closely. Is 
there any doubt whatever as to the alternative ? If 
we sit with Negroes at our tables, if we enteratin 
them as our guests and social equals, if we disre- 
gard the color line in all other relations, is it possi- 
ble to maintain it fixedly in the sexual relation, in 
the marriage of our sons and daughters, in the 
propagation of our species ? Unquestionably, No ! 
It is certain as the rising of tomorrow's sun,, that, 
o.^ce the middle wall of social partition is ore ken 
down, the mingling of the tides of life would begin 
instantly and proceed steadily. Of course, it would 
be gradual, but none the less sure, none the less ir- 
resistible. It would make itself felt at first most 
strongly in the lower strata of the white popula- 
tion ; but it would soon invade the middle and men- 
ace insiduously the very uppermost. Many bright 
Mulattoes would ambitiously woo, and not a few 
would win, well-bred women disappointed in love 
or goaded by impulse or weary of the stern strug- 
gle for existence. As a race, the Southern Cau- 
casian would be irreversibly doomed. For no 



—200— 

possible check could be given to this process once 
established. Remove the barrier between two 
streams flowing side by side — immediately they 
begin to mingle their molecules; in vain you at- 
tempt to replace it. ***** r rhe moment the bar of 
absolute separation is thrown down in the South, 
that moment the bloom of her spirit is blighted 
forever, the promise of her destiny is annulled, the 
proud fabric of her future slips into dust and 
ashes. No other conceivable disaster that might 
befall the South could, for an instant, compare 
with such miscegenation within her borders. 
Flood and fire, fever and famine and the sword — 
even ignorance, indolence, and carpet-baggery — 
she may endure and conquer while her blood re- 
mains pure ; but once taint the well-spring of her 
life, and all is lost — even honour itself. It is this 
immediate jewel of her soul that she guards with 
more than vestal vigilance with a circle of perpet- 
ual fire. The blood thereof is the life thereof; 
he who would defile it would stab her in her heart 
of heart, and she springs to repulse him with the 
fiercest instinct of self-preservation." 

But the race apologist will assert that there is no 
danger of miscegenation that we can have political equality 
without social equality. All such talk is foolish, yea, worse 
than foolish, because it may lead to the destruction of the 
white man, and all the progress so far achieved. Even 
President Harding, recently expressed some such senti- 
ments, in his Birmingham speech. 

Adverse criticism of President Harding is not intend- 
ed. He merely did not know what he said. On the con- 
trary, he is to be congratulated upon discussing the subject 
at all. He certainly took a braver position than any Presi- 
dent or "dam-Yankee" had ever taken since 1860. He ex- 
pressed himself as opposed to negroes voting unless they 
were qualified, and if this rule is followed, none will vote, 
because there are no negroes qualified to vote, or exercise 
the functions of government. 



—201— 



During carpet-bag days, a negro just appointed to of- 
fice presented himself before a Circuit Judge of this state 
that he might take the oath of office. The judge examined 
the negro's credentials, and then said to the Clerk: "Mr. 
Clerk, qualify this man. The Clerk replied : "Your Hon- 
or, I can swear this nigger, but all hell can't qualify him." 
Regardless of the ability of hell, it is a lamentable fact 
that the Creator failed, neglected or refused to qualify the 
negro for the white man's civilization. And what is true 
of the negro is true of all colored races. 

President Harding, in his Birmingham speech, took 
occasion to commend the splendid book by Lothrop Stod- 
dard, THE RISING TIDE OF COLOR. His commenda- 
tion of this book would indicate that the President appre- 
ciates to some extent, at least, the over-shadowing import- 
ance of the race question. It, perhaps, indicates also that 
the Northern white man is experiencing actual contact 
with the "colored brother," and is beginning to think instead 
of dogmatize. 

There is need for study of the race question, both 
South and North. Study, investigation and thought will 
lead the white people of both sections to the same conclu- 
sions, and result in the ultimate solution of the question, 
which is nothing less than the physical removal of the ne- 
groes from the American continent, along with all other 
colored races, of whatever shade. 

This removal is absolutely essential. If the negro re- 
mains here he will be amalgamated. The only other alter- 
native, is to deliberately exterminate the entire race; a 
remedy justifiable, if deportation be not possible. 

But perhaps, some one will deny that deportation is 
necessary. The evidence of the necessity exists in every 



—202— 

being who has in his or her veins the blood of the negro 
and the white. Thus far, the blood of the white has flowed 
into the viens of the negro, while but little negro blood has 
gone into the veins of the white man. But the process is 
under way, and will increase if the negro remains. In al- 
most every community of the South there are persons, who 
pass as white, and are accepted in white society on a basis 
of social equality, who are known to have negro blood in 
their veins. Nearly everywhere we accept a person with 
only one-sixteenth negro blood as white. In places, an 
eighth negro is accepted as a white man. In the proud 
state of Mississippi there is at least one instance of a high 
official position being filled by an octoroon, by the ballots 
of white Democrats. 

The enemy is at the gate, and if Anglo-Saxon civiliza- 
tion is to be saved, action is necessary, and that action must 
be prompt and heroic. The first step is the repeal of the 
Fifteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution, and the 
modification of some others, so that the negro may be de- 
prived of his citizenship. This is necessary before we can 
assume to treat him as a ward, and segregate him, as we 
have the Indian. 

Before pursuing this subject further, let us turn back 
to the beginning of things, and review historic man as 
races. And let us distinguish between races and peoples. 
The Greeks and Romans were two peoples, but one race; 
the Germans and English are two peoples, but one race. 

The negrophiles will contend that the negro is a young 
race ; that he is merely backward, and needs "opportunity." 
Read the following from Prof. Smith : 

"As well say the monkey is not inferior, but 
only backward. It is only a difference of degree — 



—203— 



a very great difference, to be sure, but it is idle 
to say 'Give the Negro time.' He has already had 
t?me as much time as the Europeans-thousands 
and tens of thousands of years. And what oppor- 
tunity has failed him? The power that uplifted 
Aryan and Semite did not come from without, 
but from within. No mortal civilized him ; he civ- 
ilized TmTelf . It was the wing of his own spin 
that bore him aloft. If the African has equal 
Native might of mind, why has he not wrought 
out his own civilization and peopled his continent 
with the monuments of his genius? Or if the nw 
Terial wa^all there, ready to be ignited, needing 
only thTincensive spark, why has it never, m hun- 
dreds of years, caught fire from the blazing torch 
Europe? Why has century-long contact with 
other civilizations never enkindled the teeblest 
flame?" 

The Biblical story of the creation, the Darwinian theo- 
ry and reason, all teach that creation proceeded f-cm t 
simple to the complex; from the low to the higher; from 
-star dust and curdling ether" to man created m the 
image of God." Grass was created before "the living crea- 
ture," all beasts and birds, before man. It is therefore 
reasonable that the negro is an earlier creation than the 
white man. It may be a fertile field for speculation as to 
why the black man and not the white man was able to 
write the books, paint the pictures, carve the statutes, erect 
the buildings, and do all the other worth while things of 
the world, but it cannot alter the facts. The white man 
has done it all, without intellectual aid from the black man 
•or other colored race. The black's contribution has been 
small, and that has been in mere physical labor. 

The little progress made by the black has been under 
the guidance and direction of the white man and when 
this guidance and leadership is withdrawn, the black is 
incapable of further progress, but at once sinks back to 



—204— 

his level. The white man may indeed say to the black, in 
the words of the poet: 

"I have used thee, filth as thou art, with human care. 

I pitied thee. When thou did'st not, savage, 

Know thy own meaning, but would'st gabble like 

A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes 

With words that made them known: But thy vile race, 

Though thou did'st learn, had that in't which good natures 

Could not abide to be with." 

The negro was introduced into America as a slave. 
He was elevated into slavery, to use the expression of Dr. 
B. F. Ward. As a slave he occupied a higher place and 
had more advantages than in his native land. As a freed- 
man, he has not only made no progress, but is actually 
going backwards. In fifty-six years of freedom, with op- 
portunity on every hand, and special consideration from 
his Northern admirers, he has contributed nothing to the 
life of America. If so, name it? 

Races, in so far as measurable time is concerned, are 
unchangeable. The white man of to-day is not the appre- 
ciable intellectual superior of the men who constructed the 
hanging gardens of Babylon, builded the pyramids, raised 
the parthenon, or wrote the Corpus Juris. If so the mar- 
gin is slight. The Black man, the Yellow man, and the 
Brown man, are the same as they were a hundred thou- 
sand years ago, and are the same as they will be a hundred 
thousand years hence. If there is any progress, it is rea- 
sonable that the white man will increase his lead. 

If all races had an equal start, and we find the white 
man immeasurably further advanced at this stage of prog- 
ress, it is reasonable to assume that he will continue the 
ratio of gain, and still further widen the gap between him- 
self and the colored races. 



—205— 



As already pointed out, the negro must surely have 
been created first. In the assignment of habitat he was 
fortunate in being placed where every natural resource was 
at his command. Africa, certainly was his from the very 
earliest, and all Southern Asia and the Pacific islands were 
almost certainly originally peopled with negroes or Malays 
(if the latter be not a mixture of negro and mongolian). 

Archaeologists uniformly hold that the white man be- 
gan his career in the region of ancient Bactria, now rough- 
ly the kingdom of Persia. From this breeding ground went 
forth the branches of the Aryan race, that to-day rule the 
earth From this homeland went the men who reared the 
empires of ancient Nineveh, Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt and 
Persia ; and probably older empires that we know not ot 
These early empires were builded by white men, through 
how many thousands or hundreds of thousands of years, we 
know not. In their later decadent years, they were ruled 
by mongrel kings, and the population had become mixed 
Thev fell because the white man polluted his blood with 
the colored slaves captured in his wars. The colored slave 
women of the harem, became the mothers of a new race 
and the result is that antiquarians now explore the rums ot 
their palaces. 

The Egyptians were a decadent race five thousand 
years before the birth of Christ. The nation had existed 
for perhaps twenty thousand years, most of the time in 
contact with colored races, and certainly in contact with 
the negro at the head waters of the Nile. Egyptian sculp- 
ture shows negro slaves, with the same faces and figures 
as the cotton field nigger of to-day. 

Miscegenation ended the career of Egypt and her mar- 
velous learning and arts are now forgotten and unknown. 
India was once peopled with a white race. Miscegena- 



—206— 

tion in the usual way; (captive women), brought India and 
her spiritual learning to the dust. But scant evidence ex- 
ists of her former glory, and there can be no resurrection 
morn. Her genius is not sleeping, but dead. 

Other members of the ancient white race, migrated 
westward and became the Greeks of the classic age ; the 
Romans of the Caesars; and the Europeans of the middle 
ages. The European, and especially the North European, 
probably came into Europe by traveling from ancient Per- 
sia across Russia to the North sea. The Northern branch 
remained in utter ignorance of the Southern branch located 
in the rugged peninsulas of Greece and Italy. 

Yet the Germans at the time of Tacitus, were quite 
able to assume the civilization of the Greeks and Romans, 
and take the torch of civilization from their failing hands, 
and carry it onward to undreamed of heights. So much 
for the white "savages" of the North. 

On the South the negro was in touch with the white 
man's civilization for un-numbered thousands of years. He 
had the same, or better, opportunity than the Teuton on 
the North. But the negro profited no more from contact 
with the white man than did the ape of his native jungle. 
Let us again quote Prof. Smtih on this point. He says : 

"True, the Germans for example, profited 
greatly from contact with Greco-Romans, but for 
whom they might now be savages. But they profit- 
ed because they were of the same stock; they 
were of a nature to profit. The Greek applied the 
torch, but the German material was inflammable ; 
else it would never have burned. When the same 
torch has been applied to other materials, they 
have not caught fire." 

The white man of Europe and of America are largely 
the descendants of the Germans who inhabited Europe 
two thousand years ago. They received their civilization 



—207— 

from the Greeks and Romans, who in turn had received it 
from others and developed it themselves. It has been 
maintained and further developed by the white men of the 
immediate past two thousand years. 

The negro on the South had enjoyed the opportunity 
of taking on Greek and Roman and Egyptian civilization 
over the same period, and for at least ten thousand years 
earlier. But he learned nothing, and remained where he 
was when his eyes beheld the pyramids rising from the 
African desert. His hands helped drag the massive stones 
into place, but his soul caught none of the vision of the 
builder. 

Scholars widely differ as to the cause of the downfall 
of the great nations of the past. But one historian hit the 
truth, when he wrote of Rome, that "Rome fell, because 
there were no more Romans." The white founders of the 
Empire, the men who had led the armies and carried 
Roman arms and Roman law to all parts of the then known 
world, had been supplanted by men of mixed blood. The 
vast numbers of people of inferior blood brought into the 
empire, and the mingling of blood, destroyed the moral 
and intellectual fibre of the race, and the natural result was 
a sinking back to the level of the peoples. 

For no government and no civilization can rise higher 
than the people who build it. 

For proof of the fact that Greek and Roman, as orig- 
inally found, had passed away, w r e have but to examine 
the statutes of Greeks of the earlier times, and those of 
later times. Nay, in our own day, we see the Greek in 
America in charge of a cheap restaurant, and the "Dago" 
in charge of a banana stand ; about as much like the Greek 
of Pericles time and the Roman of the time of Julius Cae- 



—208— 

sar, as a dunghill rooster is like an eagle. The infusion 
of inferior blood has brought about the downfall of every 
great nation of the past. 

It is an established fact that civilization cannot be 
maintained by a race incapable of developing it. At any 
rate it has never been done. The converse is true, that no 
race capable of founding or creating a civilization has 
failed to maintain it. So long as the race remains intact, 
it necessarily follows that it will maintain and further de- 
velop the civilization it creates. It is only when the race 
is destroyed physically, or by the infusion of inferior blood 
that civilization decays. 

i 

If 100 white men, utterly ignorant or devoid of learn- 
ing, were placed in some isolated country, and left to 
themselves, they would undoubtedly form a government, 
and develop a civilization. The proof of this is that no 
where has there been found a tribe of white men, without 
government ; and no where has the white man failed to 
maintain a government. 

On the other hand if any number of negroes, however 
highly educated, were given the most favored spot on earth, 
and given every book and mechanical contrivance so far 
invented, they would speedily sink back into the normal 
negro state. The proof of this is the fact that no where 
on earth has there ever existed a government founded by 
negroes. No tribe or clan of negroes has yet been discov- 
ered living under a government. The experiment of Li- 
beria is sufficient to show that the negro cannot of himself 
maintain a government. 

Everywhere, races have a mode of living that is the 
highest form of civilization that they can maintain. The 
Indians of America had a system of government far su- 



—209— 

perior to anything the negro had; and far inferior to the 
white man's. The American Indian has many noble quali- 
ties, but he cannot maintain the kind of civilization and 
government that we maintain. 

The reason for this state of affairs is the concern of 
the Creator. He made them so (the races). To some men 
he has given the creative genius, and this is practically lim- 
ited to members of the white race. This faculty or quality 
is in the mind. It impels a man to strive and think and 
struggle for the attainment of some object for the race. 
It is the power to think; to create an image in the mind, 
and then build it physically. 

Every building, must first exist in the mind of the 
architect; every picture in the eye of the artist; every 
strain of music in the soul of the musician. The white 
man has created everything; the colored races nothing. 

Let us take the negro as the extreme example, the 
race at the other end cf the comparison from the white 
man. He has existed in Africa for countless thousands of 
years. He was undisturbed by other races until less than 
a thousand years ago. 

Now Africa is one of the most favored continents on 
earth. It has every variety of soil and climate. It has 
all kinds of woods and minerals. It is well supplied with 
all kinds of animals. In fact there is no natural resource 
lacking. And what did the negro accomplish? Nothing. 

You cannot compare the architecture of Africa with 
that of Greece, Rome, Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria, be- 
cause Africa has none. The negro never even made a de- 
cent statute to the Mumbo Jumbo he worships. Africa 
has no literature. Not one line has come out of her vast 
expanse. Not a single bar of music was ever composed 



—210— 

by the negro, although it is charged that a few bright mu- 
lattos have given us some "ragtime", and more "jazz." 
In painting, the negro has done less than nothing; not 
more than the ape. To science he has been an entire 
stranger. He has done nothing, because he lacked the di- 
vine gift of genius; the mind that could create. 

Thomas Dixon, in his book "The Clansman," has well 
portrayed the negro in these words: 

"Education sir, is the development of that 
which is. Since the dawn of history the Negro 
has owned the continent of Africa — rich beyond 
the dream of poet's fancy, crunching acres of dia- 
monds beneath his black feet. Yet he never 
picked one up from the dust until a white man 
showed to him its glittering light. His land 
swarmed with powerful and docile animals, yet he 
never dreamed a harness, cart or sled. A hunter 
by necessity, he never made an,axe, spear or arrow- 
head worth preserving beyond the moment of its 
use. He lived as an ox, content to graze for an 
hour. In a land of stone and timber he never 
sawed a foot of lumber, carved a block, or built a 
house save of broken sticks and mud. With league 
on league of ocean strand and miles of inland seas, 
for four thousand years he watched their surface 
ripple under the wind, heard the thunder of the 
surf on his beach, the howl of the storm over his 
head, gazed on the dim blue horizon calling him to 
worlds that lie beyond, and yet he never dreamed 
a sail! He lived as his fathers lived— stole his 
food, worked his wife, sold his children, ate. his 
brother, content to drink, sing, dance, and sport 
as the ape!" 

In the statements made above in regard to the capa- 
bilities and lack of capabilities of the races, there is no 
intention to give offense to any race or to any person. 
Neither is there any charge made against the morals of 



— 211 — 

any race. The colored races might be the most righteous 
races on earth, but that does not qualify them to assume 
the leadership of the world. 

The fact still remains that if civilization is to be main- 
tained and further developed; if man is to continue his 
upward course to the stars, it is necessary that the racial 
purity of the white race be preserved at all hazards and all 
costs. Next the numerical proportion of the white race 
must be kept at such a figure that there will never be seri- 
ous danger of the colored races over-running any territory 
occupied by white men. 

The greatest calamity that has befallen the world was 
the World War, in which millions of white men, the flower 
of the race, and the seed corn of the next generation, fell 
in internecine strife. It matters not if the dead be white 
Russians, Germans, French, Italians, English or Ameri- 
can, the loss is to the white race, already face to face with 
the teeming millions of the Orient. 

If the colored races continue in America in the years 
to come, the colored blood will graduadlly mix with the 
white, and both be lost in the blending. Roughly there is 
twenty-five per cent of colored blood in the United States. 
The percentage of black is about ten per cent. Then we 
have some Japanese, some Chinese, Hindoos, Turks, Poly- 
nesians, etc. With this we have many of the peoples from 
Central and Southern Europe who are of colored blood. 

The ten per cent negro, if uniformly mixed with the 
white, would as effectually destroy the white race, as the 
deliberate execution of every white person. The polyglot 
mixture which will result from the peoples now here, will 
be a breed incapable of even maintaining the standard of 
civilization we have now reached. 



—212— 

The impossibility of colored and white living in con 
tact, with full political rights for each, in the same coun- 
try, is amply demonstrated by the passage by the House 
of Representatives of the Federal Anti-Lynching Law. 
This is a law flagrantly in violation of the Federal Con- 
stitution. The purpose of its passage was to win the votes 
of a few thousand negroes living in doubtful districts in 
the North. The miserable politicians who voted it through 
the House of Representatives did so with the hope of re- 
taining their own seat in Congress, and in helping other 
Republican members to be re-elected. The men who would, 
for Party advantage, vote through a law like this, would 
for selfish reasons, give their own daughters in marriage 
to a black buffoon who could control sufficient votes. 

If there be not physical removal of the negro and other 
colored people, this Republic is doomed. 

The men who voted for the anti-Lynching Law did not 
do so because they thought it would prevent lynching. They 
are indeed fools if they know not that it will encourage 
lynching. The negro, believing in the protecting aegis of 
the Federal Government, will not hesitate to commit the 
crime of rape. He will foolishly think that its purpose is 
to urge him to commit the crime. 

And so long as there are white men in the South the 
negro will be lynched when he commits the crime of rape. 
There are not enough men in America capable of bearing 
arms to prevent the lynching of a negro who rapes a daugh- 
ter of the South, nor enough armies to collect the penalty 
which the law imposes. 

But one good can possibly come from this law, and 
that may be the arousing of sufficient passion and feeling to 
convince even the fools that Lincoln was right when he 



—213— 



said "there is a physical difference between the white and 
black races which will forever forbid their living together 
on terms of political and social equality." 

The only answer, the only solution, is the physical 
removal or perfect segregation of the negro and other col- 
ored races in America, and the absolute stopping of any 
further immigration of any person unless he be a member 
of the white race. 

The following is an article written by Prof. Ellett, and 
published in The Issue when edited by Gov. Vardaman : 

OUR HERITAGE. 

(By Prof. A. H. Ellett.) 
—1908— 

The scientist has classified man-kind into three divis- 
ions the Ethiopian or negro race, the Mongolian and the 
cTuc^sian or by color, the first is the black race, the last 
the " wh te 'and the middle one includes the colors between 
thG Under the Mongolian would fall the sub-divisions for 
• 4. ™ r^inp^P Turks American Indians. Under uau- 
TaSn ;o C uH ne co^e T : Ur Firl Indo-European, the Hamitie 

and uTde? thTHamitic would appear, Egyptians and 
Arabs under the Semitic would stand the Hebrew. 

Nit with arrogance, but in since re humilrt, -may we 
not be glad we belong to the race that we do? May we not 
te glad with the heart's deep joy that we do not belong to 

thfi Tr°ac r e a with no record of might or of mastery; of 
vision or o'f Victory; of heroism enacted or of hopes at- 

taine A ? race with no monuments of progress :-With no 

cities of culture or navies of commerce; with no high-ways 

breading "the earth ; or harbors defying the wrath .of J.he 

or triumphal arch. 



—214— 

With no book; no Bible, and no mythology; with no 
Veda or Saga or Koran ; with no Fiction or Philosophy ; no 
Epic or Lyrics, or Drama, or any other ripe fruitage of the 
God-like intellect. 

With no great system of any kind, no system of science 
or religion or education or of ethics, no great system, social, 
civil or martial. 

Destitute of initiative — an imitation only, shining, if 
shining at all, by a borrowed light. Climbing, if climbing 
at all, along a pathway already made ; hoping, if hoping at 
all, that he may enter the door of hope after it has been 
opened by stronger hands than his. 

MONGOLIAN. 

I heard a well-known missionary say, "The Chinese 
is no way inferior to the world's best race." 

For my part I rejoice that I am not a Chinaman, with 
his slanting eyes and the backward look. Standing still, 
in the twilight of his evening looking back for the gleam 
of sun on the mountain peaks of the past. Sitting about 
the sepulcher of a buried glory, for which there is no resur- 
rection morn. 

I am glad that I am not a fossil Chinaman, nor a fero- 
cious Turk, born to look back along a pathway red with the 
blood of innocence — blood that stained the soul of him that 
shed it, and cemented the stones in no temple of freedom. 

Would you be an American Indian? With no better 
visions before his eyes than the long, dim aisles of the for- 
est glades, where even the mark of his foot-fall is lost 
forever. 

CAUCASIAN. 

May we not, without offense, be glad that we belong 
to the Caucasian race; to the Indo-European family of that 
race; to the Teutonic branch of that family, and to the 
Anglo-Saxon twig of that branch? 

For myself, I'm glad that I was not born to the Hametic 
family or the Semitic family. 

Not an Egyptian, whose only boast is the memory of 
a civilization that is dead — a civilization that Isis and Osiris 
could not save. 



—215— 

Not an Arab, the panorama of whose history is as 
shifting as the unstable sands over which his aimless feet 
for the centuries past have trod, and whose hope for the 
future is no more substantial than the mocking mirage of 
his desert. 

Not even a Hebrew — with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, 
with his exodus from Egypt and his conquest of Canaan; 
with his tabernacle in the wilderness and his temple at 
Jerusalem ; with his warrior, prophet, priest and king — 
and yet a man without a country ; standing at the helm of 
no ship of state ; leading the van cf no great advance ; look- 
ing to the future for the coming of a Christ that will not 
come again to men. 

Draw the line. On that side Abraham, Isaac and 
Jacob ; Moses and Miriam and Joshua ; Debora, Daniel and 
David; Samson and Saul and Solomon, in all his glory; the 
song at the sea and the shout at Jerico ; the pillar of cloud 
by day and the pillar of fire by night; the brazen serpent 
and the burning mountain ; the victory in war and the voice 
in the wilderness. 

Put all his triumphs of mind and morals and might; 
all the splendor of his spirit and all the mass of his ma- 
terial achievements upon that side the line. 

I'd cast my lot with gratitude to God on this side the 
line with the Anglo-Saxon blood. 

MASTERY OF NATURE. 

On the side with the race that has shown itself the 
master of nature and the master of men. That has leveled 
the mountains, and sounded the seas, and tamed the light- 
nings and harnessed the winds, and weighed the planets 
and solved the mystery of the suns. 

That has shown itself the master of men ; routing 
them in battle and ruling them for their own redemption ; 
warring for the truth and triumphing upon a thousand 
fields. 

I am glad I belong to the race upon the page of whose 
history is written the battle of Bosworth Field and Bunker 
Hill, of Marston Moor and of Fort Moultrie, of Trafalgar 
and Lake Erie, of the Almanace and the Alamo, of Sara- 
toga and King's Mountain, of New Orleans and Lundy's 
Lane, of Monterey and Buena Vista, of First Manassas and 
Manila Bay. 



—216— 
GOVERNMENT. 

I am glad that I belong to the race that forced a recreant 
king to sign the Magna Charta under God's blue sky at Run- 
nimede ; that forced King Charles to grant the Petition of 
Rights in 1628 ; that brought King William to sign the Bill 
of Rights in 1689, thus binding for the generations forever 
the three great books that make the bible of English Lib- 
erty. 

That instituted trial by jury, and the habeas corpus, 
and wrote with the sword for kings to read: — "Taxation 
without representation is tyranny." 

That repudiated the "divine right of kings", and burn- 
ed the papal bull at the gates of Wittenberg, and wrote the 
Declaration of Independence. 

That taught mankind that governments derive their 
just powers from the consent of the governed, and that 
the individual citizen, be he rich or poor, royal bred or 
lowly born, is himself a sovereign in the government which 
he has made and which he may unmake. 

LITERATURE. 

I thank God that I belong to the race upon whose 
bright annals are written the names of Caedmon and of 
Chaucer, of Milton and of Shakespeare, of Cowper and of 
Young, of Browning and of Burns, of Shelly and of Keats, 
of Coleridge and of Wordsworth, of Tennyson and of 
Thompson, of Longfellow and of Lanier, of Addison and 
Steele, of Ruskin, Carlyle and Emerson. 

Of Hume and of Hallam, of Gibbon and of Greene, of 
Mosheim, Buckle and Bancroft. 

Of Locke and of Leibnitz, of Huxley and of Hamilton, 
of Isaac Newton and Adam Smith, of Darwin and of Tyn- 
dall, of Spencer and Maury and Humboldt and Edison. 

Such masters in the realm of romance as Goldsmith, 
Scott and DeFoe, and Dickens and Thackery and Eliot and 
Bulwer. 

MUSIC. 

Such sovereigns in the kingdom of sound as Bach and 
Beethoven and Mozart and Hayden and Schubert and Schu- 
man and Wagner and Weber, and a hundred more whose 



—217— 



melodies shall live to mingle with the latest sigh of the 
Anglo-Saxon song. 

ORATORY. 

I rejoice that I belong to the race that produced such 
orators as Edmund Burke and Pitt and Fox and Sheridan 
and Grattan and Curran and Emmett and Patrick Henry 
and Daniel Webster and Clay and Calhoun and S. S. Pren- 
tiss and Henry Grady. 

Such ambassadors for God as Richard Baxter and 
Thomas Fuller, Jeremy Taylor and Isaac Watts Wesley 
and Whitfield and Knox and Moody, John A. Broadus and 
Sam P. Jones. 

HOME. 

Beyond it all I am grateful to God that I belong to 
the race that through the stress of all its history has fixed 
its heart upon the indivdual home. That through it all, 
and with it all, and by it all the Anglo-Saxon blood has 
sought to build a home with the .snow-white wreath of 
Chastity crowning the threshold, with the altar of God by 
the fireside, with the crown of a queen on the Mother s 
head as she rocks her child to sleep. 

I thank God that I am of the Anglo-Saxon blood ; more 
that I was born under the bending skies of Dixie; most, 
that I was born one of the ninety-nine and fifty-one hun- 
dredths per cent pure Anglo-Saxon blood of Mississippi, 
where in all the coming years, with joy .in the smile of our 
own womankind, and in the fear of God alone we shall 
preserve our traditions and control our destiny, just so long 
as our waters shall run to the sea; just so long as the roses 
shall bloom or an Anglo-Saxon heart shall beat. 



APPENDIX 

LEGISLATIVE RECORD OF SENATOR JAMES 
K. VARDAMAN, OF MISSISSIPPI, ON MEAS- 
URES OF INTEREST TO LABOR. 

63d CONGRESS. 

1. On May 7, 1913. — The Sundry Civil Appropriation 
Bill contained the following provisos which were favored 
by Labor : 

"Provided, however, That no part of this money shall be spent 
in the prosecution of any organization or individual for entering in- 
to any combination or agreement having in veiw the increasing of 
wages, shortening of hours or bettering the conditions of Labor, or 
for any act done in furtherance thereof NOT IN ITSELF UNLAW- 
FUL; provided, further, That no part of this appropriation shall be 
expended for the prosecution of producers of farm products and asso- 
ciations of farmers who cooperate and organize in an effort to and 
for the purpose to obtain and maintain a fair and reasonable price 
for their products." 

This bill had been vetoed by President Taft when it 
was placed in his hands for signature in the previous 
(Sixty-second) Congress. 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "nay" or in 
favor of the interests of Labor. 

2. On May 27, 1913. — Senator Kern's resolution, fa- 
vored by Labor, authorizing a Senatorial investigation into 
the industrial conditions in the West Virginia coal fields, 
came up in the Senate and was agreed to without a record 
vote. Senator Bacon offered the following objectionable 
amendment which was rejected by a vote of 10 "ayes", 59 
"nays" and 27 "not voting". 

To strike out the fourth clause which is as follows : 
"Fourth, Investigate and report all facts and circumstances re- 
lating to the charge that citizens of the United States have been 
arrested, tried and convicted contrary to or in violation of the Consti- 
tution of the laws of the United States." 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "nay' or in 
favor of the interests of Labor. 



—219— 

3. On July 8, 1914. — Senator Sterling moved to strike 
out the following labor provisos from the Anti-trust section 
of the Sundry Civil Bill : 

"Provided, however, That no part of this money shall be ex- 
pended in the prosecution of any organization or individual for enter- 
ing into any combination or agreement having in view the increasing 
of wages, shortening of hours or bettering the conditions of Labor, 
or for any act done in furtherance thereof, NOT IN ITSELF UNLAW- 
FUL: provided further, That no part of this appropriation shall be 
expended for the prosecution of producers of farm products and 
associations of farmers who cooperate and organize in an effort to 
and for the purpose to obtain and maintain a fair and reasonable 
price for their products. 

Senator Martin of Virginia moved to lay the Sterling 
motion on the table. 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "aye" or in 
favor of the interests of Labor. 

4. On September 2, 1914.— The Clayton Anti-trust 
Bill passed the Senate. It contained several important 
protective features which were considered as Labor's Bill 
of Rights. 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as "not voting". 

5. On October 5, 1914. — When the conference report 
on the Clayton Anti-trust Bill was before the Senate a 
motion was made to recommit. 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "aye" or 
against the interests of Labor. 

6. On December 31, 1914. — A vote was taken in the 
Senate on the Literacy Test contained in the Immigration 
Bill, Senator Martine of New Jersey having moved to strike 
the Literacy Test from the Bill. The Senate rejected Sena- 
tor Martine's motion by a vote of 47 to 12 and 37 "not 
voting." 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as "not voting." 

7. On January 2, 1915. — The final vote upon the Im- 
migration Bill was taken up in the Senate, the Literacy 
Test, of course, being a part of the Bill. The Senate passed 
the bill with the Literacy Test intact by a vote of 50 "ayes," 
7 "'nays," 39 "not voting." 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "aye" or in 
favor of the interestst of Labor. 

8. On February 23, 1915. — Three roll call votes were 
taken in the Senate on the proposition to forbid officers 



—220— 

of the Army and Navy to maintain or install the "stop 
watch," "speeding up" Taylor System" in Government ar- 
senals and navy yards. 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as "not voting." 
9. On February 27, 1915. — The Seaman's Bill, favor- 
ed by labor, came before the Senate for final passage on the 
conferees' report. It passed the Senate by practically an 
unanimous viva voce vote without a record being taken, but 
later when a motion to reconsider that vote was made and a 
record test vote was taken upon the motion to reconsider 
the Seaman's bill carried by a vote of 39 "ayes," 33 "nays' 
and 24 "not voting." 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "aye" or in 
favor of the interestst of Labor. 

64th CONGRESS. 

1. On June 30, 1916. — Senator Weeks of Massachu- 
setts moved to strike out of the Fortifications bill the fol- 
lowing Anti-stop Watch provision known as the Tavenner 
amendments against the Taylor System: 

"Provided, That no part of the appropriations made in this act 
shall be available fo r the salary or pay of any officer, manager, sup- 
erintendent, foreman or other person having charge of the work of 
any employee of the United States Government while making or 
causing to be made with a stop watch or other time-measuring device 
a time study of any job of any such employee between the starting and 
completion thereof, or of the movements of any such employee while 
engaged upon such work; nor shall any part of the appropriation 
made in this act be available to pay any premium or bonus or cash 
reward to any employee in addition to his regular wages, except for 
suggestions resulting in improvements or economy in the operation of 
any Government plant." 

Senator Bryan of Florida moved to lay the motion of 
Senator Weeks on the table. 

The American Federation of Labor strongly urged the 
Tavenner Amendment. 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "aye" or in 
favor of the interests of Labor. 

2. On July 25, 1916. — Senator Chamberlain, Chair- 
man of the Military Affairs Committee moved that the fol- 
lowing Tavenner Amendment should be stricken from the 
Appropriation Bill : 



—221— 

"Provided, That no part of the appropriations made in this act 
shall be available for the salary or pay of any officer, manager, sup- 
erintendent, foreman, or other person having charge of the work of 
any employee of the United States Government while making or 
causing to be made with a stop-watch or other time-measuring device 
a time study of any job of any such employee between the starting 
and completion thereof, or of the movements of any such employee 
while engaged upon such work; nor shall any part of the appropri- 
ations made in this act be available to pay any premium or bonus 
or cash reward to any employee in addition to his regular wages, 
except for suggestions resulting in improvements or economy in the 
operation of any Government plant." 

The American Federation of Labor strongly urged the 
above proviso to prohibit the Taylor System and use of the 
stop-watch on workmen in Government plants.^ 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting ' nay or in 
favcr of the interests of Labor. 

3 On July 26, 1916.— Senator Gallinger of New 
Hampshire attempted to nullify the Tavenner Anti-stop 
Watch proviso included in the Military Appropriation Bill 
by striking out the premium bonus part of the amendment, 
as follows: . 

"Nor shall any part of the appropriations made in this act be 
available to pay any premium or bonus or cash reward to any em- 
ployee in addition to his regular wages, except for suggestions re- 
sulting in improvements or economy in the operation of any Govern- 
ment plant." , 

The American Federation of Labor vigorously opposed 
the Gallinger motion which, if carried, would have made 
the Tavenner amendment worthless. 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting ' nay or in 

favor of the interests of Labor. „,.,,* u mi 

4. On August 8, 1916.— The Federal Child Labor Bill 
passed the Senate by a vote of 52 "ayes," 12 "nays and 31 
"not voting." In behalf of the children of our Land, the 
American Federation of Labor, for many years, has urged 
the passage of this Bill. 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting aye or in 
favor of the interests of Labor. 

5. On September 2, 1916.— When the railroad men a 

eight-hour Bill was before the Senate, Senator Underwood 
of Alabama offered an objectionable amendment extending 
authority to the Interstate Commerce Commission to tix 



—222— 

hours and wages of railroad employes, either on its own 
initiative, petition of employes, managers of railroads or 
the public. This proposition was vigorously opposed by the 
American Federation of Labor, and the Railroad Brother- 
hoods. It was defeated by a v^ote of 14 "ayes" to 57 "nays," 
and 24 "not voting." 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "nay" or in 
favor of the interests of Labor. 

6. On September 2, 1916. — When the Railroad Men's 
Eight-hour Bill was before the Senate, Senator Newlands 
offered the following very objectionable amendment which 
could have been interpreted so as to always penalize 
strikers on railroads in the future : 

"Sec. 5. Any person who shall knowingly and willfully obstruct 
or retard the operation of trains mentioned in section 1 of this a?t 
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be punished by a fine not ex- 
ceeding $100 or imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both." 

This unfavorable amendment was vigorously opposed 
by Labor. It was defeated by a vote of 14 "ayes," 52 
"rays," 29 "not voting." 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "nay" or in 
favor of the interests of Labor. 

On the final passage of the Railroad Men's Eight-hour 
Bill, Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "aye" or in 
favor of the interests of Labor. 

7. On December 14, 1916. — The Immigration Bill 
came up in the Senate ard passed by a vote of 64 "ayes," 
7 "nays" and 25 "not voting". 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "aye" or in 
favor of tl e interests of Labor. 

8. On January 8, 1917. — The Conference report on the 
Immigration Bill was agreed to in the Senate by a vote of 
56 "ayes," 10 "nays" and 30 "not voting." 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as "not voting." 

9. On February 5, 1917. — The Immigration Bill, with 
the Literacy Test, passed the Senate over President Wilson's 
veto by a vote of 62 "ayes," 19 "nays" and 15 'not voting. 
The American Federation of Labor has constantly urged 
the enactment of this legislation. 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "aye" or in 
favor of the interests of Labor. 



—223— 



65th CONGRESS. 



1. On September 10, 1917.— The War Revenue Bill 
passed the Senate by a vote of 69 "ayes," 4 "nays" and 23 
"not voting." An objectionable amendment was offered 
by Senator Hardwick regarding second class postage which 
was rejected by a vote of 20 "ayes," 48 "nays" and 28 "not 
voting." 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "aye" or 
against the interests of Labor. 

2. On September 10, 1917. — Senator Simmons offered 
an amendment to the War Revenue Bill, H. R. 4280, where- 
by Labor and Farmers' Publications with others, were ex- 
empted under the second class postage and regulations. 
This amendment was agreed to by a vote of 59 "ayes," 9 
"nays' and 28 "not voting. This amendment was favored 
by Labor. 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "aye" or in 
favor of the interests of Labor. 

3. On September 25, 1917 — Senator Robinson of Ar- 
kansas offered an amendment to the Urgent Deficiency Bill 
for an appropriation of $500,000.00 for the Bureau of Em- 
ployment of the Department of Labor. It passed the Sen- 
ate on a roll call vote of 28 "ayes," 26 "nays" and "42 not 
voting." 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "nay" or 
against the interests of Labor. 

4. On October 4, 1917.— The Bureau of War Risk 
Insurance Bill, H. R. 5723, for Soldiers and Sailors, pass- 
ed the Senate by a vote of 71 "ayes" and 25 "not voting." 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "aye" or in 

favor of the interests of Labor. 

5. On February 6, 1918.— The Civil Rights Bill, H. R. 
6361, for the protection of civil rights of persons while en- 
gaged in the military and naval service of the United 
States, passed the Senate by a vote of 65 "ayes" and 29 
"not voting." 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "aye" or in 
favor of the interests of Labor. 

7. On March 15, 1918. — Senator Sheppard moved to 
strike out the Borland amendment, increasing the length of 
the workday of Government employes, from tht Agricul- 



—22 

tural Appropriation Bill ,which was defeated by a vote of 28 
"ayes," 29 "nays," 38 "not voting." 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as "not voting." 

8. On March 21, 1918. — Senator Sheppard moved to 
strike the Borland amendment from the Agricultural Ap- 
propriation Bill, which carried by a vote of 40 "ayes," 23 
"nays" and 32 "not voting." 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "nay" or 
against the interests of Labor. 

9. On May 22, 1918. — When the Naval Appropriation 
Bill was before the Senate, Senator Gallinger moved to 
strike out the following provision: 

That no part of the appropriation made in this act shall be 
available for the salary or pay of any officer, manager, superinten- 
dent, foreman or other person having charge of the work of any 
employee of the United States Government, while making or causing 
to be made with a stop-watch or other time-measuiing device, a 
time study of any job, of any such employee between the starting 
and completion thereof, or of he movements of any such employee 
while engaged upon such work." 

The Senate refused to strike out the provision by a 
vote of 21 "ayes," 38 "nays" and 37 "not voting." 

Senator Vardaman is recorded as voting "nay" or in 
favor of the interests of Labor. 



—225— 
The Line of Cleavage. 

(By DR. B. F. WARD.) 

(1918) 

Plutarch says, from the first, the population of Athens was 
divided into two separate and distinct elements, the few and the 
many. 

He says this line of cleavage was as distinct and permanent 
as a crack or seam running through a solid block of steel. 

When, in any age, civilized government, in the public affairs 
of which the people are supposed to have any voice, assumes organ- 
ization, the population very early divides into two separate and 
antagonistic factions, or parties, the majority and the minority. 

So long as the majority element is represented by able, honest 
and faithful leaders, it is apt to retain a long lease of control. 

When the minority begins to outclass the majority in honesty, 
efficiency and fidelity to the public interest, it has the chance of 
winning recruits from the ranks of the majority, in sufficient num- 
bers, to change the relationship and assume the role and the functions 
of the majority. 

The longer either element remains in the ascendency, the deeper 
the line of cleavage cuts, and the more bitter the mutual antagonisms 
until, finally, the minority becomes so embittered by repeated failures, 
that it gives its consent to resort to false issues, and strives to win suc- 
cess by deceiving the rank and file of the majority, and, thereby, 
attract them to its standard. 

When the Savior was crucified he was persecuted, prosecuted, 
convicted and executed, on a false issue. The real cause for the 
action taken against him was never mentioned. 

The Roman governor, of course, was not in the slightest degree 
concerned about the religious doctrine he was teaching. 

The Romans regarded that as a very trivial matter, simply a 
quarrel among the Jews, but they were apprehensive, as his follow- 
ing increased in numbers and strength, that he would incite and 
organize a revolution against the Roman government. 

Hence, they kept a close watch on his movements. The seat 
of government was at Caesarea, but during the Feast of the Pass- 
over, the governor would move his headquarters to Jerusalem, where 
he kept soldiers quartered, because, during this ceremony, thousands 
of Jews came from every quarter of the globe, and the governor 
feared that Jesus might assume the leadership of the excited multi- 
tude and create an insurrection, which was constantly threatened, 
and did come thirty years later, with great violence. 



—226— 

The chief priests and elders were the active agents who pro- 
cured his death, for we are told that the "common people heard 
him gladly," because he was preaching a system of theology that 
was simple, democratic, and cheap, exactly what we need today. 

While the people were poor and burdened with taxation to sup- 
port a corrupt church, the priests were reveling in wealth and luxury 
on the money extorted from the people. 

The priests realized that if Jesus were permitted to continue 
his reformation unmolested, their revenues would be reduced to the 
point where they would have to go to work, but they could not afford 
to offer this as an argument, because it would have increased the 
popularity of Jesus with the people. 

Hence, they resorted to a false issue and charged him with 
blasphemy, which, to the mind of the intensely religious Jew, was the 
greatest of crimes. 

So the priests on this false issue succeeded in "stirring up the 
people" and inducing them to clamor for his execution. 

The same policy of false issue is resorted to in these days by 
the leaders of political minorities to destroy able, honest, courageous 
and eminent men, when they have failed to overthrow and destroy 
them by honest and legitimate measures. 

When Senator George was a candidate for the United States 
Senate, his enemies, finding that there was no chance to defeat him 
honestly, raised a false issue that in framing the constitution of 
1890, he purposely constructed it so as to place the illiterate white 
man on an equality with the negroes. While the charge was fla- 
grantly false, they succeeded in deceiving enough voters to defeat 
him in his own county. 

Two thousand years ago, Italy was a country of small farmers 
who owned the land. 

Plutarch tells us that "the rich men and the money lenders" 
loaned these farmers money at a ruinous rate of interest, securing 
it by mortgages on the farms. 

Rome was then the proud mistress of a subjugated world, and 
her armies were constantly sending home large batches of prisoners 
who were put into slavery. 

The government sold these white slaves to the "rich men and 
money lenders," who proceeded to close their mortgages, eject the 
owners, take possession of the farms, and cultivate them under their 
system of white slavery. 

The young men who were fighting the battles of the country 
were the sons of these small farmers, and by the prisoners they 
were sending to the "rich men and money lenders," were supplying 



—227— 

the very forces by which their own parents were driven out of their 
little homes to become beggars and bribe takers from rich men who 
were candidates for office. 

Tiberius Gracchus, who though springing from the most aristo- 
cratic blood of Rome,' and was called "the greatest Roman of his 
day," seeing this deplorable condition of the people, espoused the 
cause of the farmers and attempted to secure the enactment of a law 
restoring the farms to the original owners, the government to lend 
the farmers the money at a low rate of interest to repurchase their 
lands from the money lenders at a price to insure the money lenders 
against loss. 

This measure was violently opposed by the capitalists, who were 
holding and operating these farms at great profit with white slave 
labor. 

They were represented in their opposition by Octavius, the fellow 
tribune of Tiberius. They raised the cry of confiscation, class legis- 
lation, and an effort to array the poor against the wealthy. 

On one occasion when the two tribunes were debating this ques- 
tion before a vast assemblage of citizens, Tiberius, putting his arms 
around Octavius, appealed to him so earnestly to let this measure 
pass in the interest of the destitute fanners, that it brought tears 
to the eyes of Octavius, and he was apparently, on the point of 
yielding, but he turned and looked towards the "money lenders" who 
were standing in a group together, and when they shook their heads 
at him he faced Tiberius and announced, emphatically, that he never 
would consent to it. 

Tiberius, who was distinguished for his mild, persuasive, and 
courteous style of speech, turned to the audience and for the first 
time in his life launched into a fierce and fiery denunciation of the 
existing condition. 

The masses were so swayed by his eloquence that they were 
swept into the wildest and most .demonstrative applause and approval 
of his utterances. 

His opponents, becoming alarmed at the menace of the infuri- 
ated multitude, secretly hired a mob to precipitate a riot and assas- 
sinate Tiberius which is often the last resort of defeated minorities. 
A desperate alternative which we sometimes witness in modern po- 
litical contests. This quieted the agitation until his brother, Cams, 
grew to manhood and resumed the contest where his brother left it, 
and who suffered the same tragic fate of Tiberius. 

This terminated the struggle, and the "money lenders" con- 
tinued to hold the farms. 



—228— 

Minorities, when driven to desperation in their purpose to be- 
come majorities adopt three lines of assault. First, argument, based 
on such facts as are available. Second, false issues. Third, and last, 
violence. 

Cato, the honest old Roman patriot, seeing that the corruption and 
bribery of the voters by rich candidates was undermining the very 
foundations of the commonwealth, succeeded in having a law passed 
requiring every candidate to put up a certain amount of money, and 
if detected in trying to bribe a voter, he was to forfeit the money 
deposited, and withdraw from the race. 

The rich man seeing that this law placed him on an equal footing 
with the poor man in their candidacy for office, inaugurated a cam- 
paign for the repeal of the law, but concealed their real motives by 
presenting a false issue in their appeal to poor voters, that Cato was 
an aristocrat, and that this law was an autocratic measure to deprive 
them of their personal privileges, and make them feel their inferi- 
ority. 

This aroused the animosity of the poor, defeated Cato, and se- 
cured the repeal of the law. 

Thus the voters were deceived, and the false issue prevailed. 

Pericles was the greatest Greek of the age in which he lived, and 
was accorded the title of the "first citizen." 

The noblest blood of Athens flowed in his veins, but he was 
wise just, brave, and patriotic; he espoused the cause of the poor 
and the industrious laboring class. 

The opposition of the aristocracy to his administration was led 
by such brilliant and formidable characters as Cimon and Thucydides. 

While he had a long and illustrious career, his life was a con- 
tinuous struggle. 

As soon as one accusation failed to materialize another was in- 
vented, and industriously circulated. 

He never lost his equilibrium, nor replied to any of them. 

They even charged that his mother was not of pure blood, which 
if established, would have disfranchised him. They attacked him for 
alleged illegal relations wih Aspasia, a famous and accomplished wo- 
man. 

Pericles invested a great amount of money in the erection of 
magnificent buildings, and improving the city in various ways, until 
it was said that he made Athens "the glory of Greece, and the wonder 
of the world." 

Through these various channels of industry, he furnished lucra- 
tive employment to thousands of laborers, who would otherwise have 
been idle. 



—229— 

The aristocratic class was loud in the complaint that he would 
bankrupt the State, and impose a burden upon the people that they 
would never be able to pay. 

Finally, a great mass meeting of the citizens was called and 
Pericles summoned to appear and render an account of his adminis- 
tration. 

He stood before them without the slighest evidence of confusion, 
or irritation. 

After giving a full and detailed report of his expenditures, and 
for what purpose, he proposed that if they were dissatisfied, and dis- 
approved of his investments that he would pay them back every dollar 
he had expended, if they would have the deeds to the property made in 
his name. 

That so astonished them that they consented to give him a free 
hand to spend any amount he wished and they would meet it. 

In his dying hours, when his friends gathered around him, and 
spoke of the great work he had accomplished for the commonwealth, 
he roused up and reminded them that they had not mentioned the ore 
thing for which he deserved the greatest credit, and that was the fact 
that he "had never caused one Athenian to wear mourning." 

After his death, his life-long enemies gave public announcement 
of their mistake in the relentless war they had made on him, and 
admitted that nature had never furnisehed another such man as 
Pericles. 

The life of Pericles is a striking illustration of the fact that the 
greater, stronger, more courageous and inflexible a public man is, 
the more bitter, persistent and unscrupulous are the assults upon him, 
and the more numerous and unblushing are the false issues upon which 
he is arraigned. 

A weak or unworthy man is seldom pursued with any marked 
degree of venom, because he soon defeats himself. 

The life and death of Demosthenes, amply and forcibly illustrates 
the fact that envy, jealousy, selfishness and greed, mark, for destruc- 
tion, the man who stands most fearlessly against the accomplishment 
of their nefarious schemes. 

He was born 355 years before the birth of Christ, and yet in 
the 20th century, his name is inseparably linked with all the great- 
ness, grandeur and glory of Greece. 

After devoting his life and fortune to the cause of his country, 
he died an exile and a suicide in a temple of refuge, to escape the 
dagger of the assassin, the third and last resort after the failure of 
argument and false issue to destroy the man who stands by the con- 
victions of his conscience and judgment. 



—230— 

After more than two thousand years, the fame of Cicero is the 
gloi-y of Rome. After a life long struggle with the enemies of 
good government his antagonists appealed to the dagger, but he was 
cold in death, when his arch and imperial persecutor admitted that 
"Cicero was, indeed a good citizen and really loved his country." 

Thomas Jefferson, the greatese man who ever lived on the Ameri- 
can continent, was a native aristocrat, who by principle and practice, 
became the champion of the rights of man and the liberties of the 
people; he was the advocate of free speech equal rights for all peo- 
ple, the separation of church and state, and the largest liberty to the 
individual consistent with well-ordered government, and for every- 
thing else that looked to the elevation and prosperity of the human 
race and the betterment of mankind, and the highest degree of ex- 
cellence in organized society. 

He gave his life and his fortune to the service of his country 
and his people, and died a pauper, pursued to the grave by envy, 
jealousy and malignant ingratitude. 

So it^ was with Andrew Jackson, one of the superb characters of 
history who, according to his enemies, was guilty of almost every 
crime in the catalogue of immorality; he was branded as a cruel and 
domineering tyrant, and his administration as destructive to the lib- 
erties of the people and the business inerests of the common-wealth. 

And yet, the names and careers of these two men are now ven- 
erated and cherished as a rich legacy by every patriotic, sincere 
citizen. 

However, it is a sad commentray on the veracity f political 
parties, that the grave must close over the mortal remains of great, 
good and useful men before they can escape the "slings and arrows 
or outrageous fortune" and have their virtues vindicated. 

But such has been the fate of heroes and martyrs for two or 
three thousand years, and doubtless will continue to be until human 
nature is radically changed. 

But it does appeal to the sober^ reasoning faculties of the age 
that the progress of civilization and the influence of the Christian 
religion for centuries, would have farther removed us from these 
cruel and disreputable methods between men of kindred blood and 
common interest in a common country. 

Since Senator Vardaman first entered public life, he has, by some 
strange fatality, lived and labored under an unremitting current of 
personal invective and flagrant misrepresentation. 

Of course, a great many men who have employed these methods 
and indulged in these harsh and vindictive criticisms have been honest 
in their enmity; they have been deceived, and their mental vision 



—231— 

has been beclouded by the fabrications of unscrupulous and designing 
partes who^have reaLed from the first that the only chance to defeat 
him was by framing one false issue after another and investing them 
with as much plausibility as possible and by systematically miscon- 
struing and distorting his acts and utterances. 

If every enemy he has in Mississippi could visit the Senate 
chamber, examine in detail, the record he has made, and witness the 
position he occupies among the most eminent Senators, of both par- 
ties, while they might hate the man, they would be proud of the 

representative. , . 

I would not attempt in a communication like this to go into his 

record, because it is before the country. . 

I am four score and three years of age, I flatter myself that the 
people who know me best will credit me with sincerity when I affirm, 
most postively and without qualification, that in my long life I have 
never known a more honest, candid, courageous, truthful and un- 
selfish patriot. ,!_!.• 

He can neither be pursuaded by his friends, coerced by his ene- 
miles, nor purchased by his poverty into doing anything which his 
iudgment and his conscience do not approve. 

As I will not live long enough to see him in another contest, I feel 
that I owe this humble and parting tribute to his ability, his patriot- 
ism, and. his fidelity. 

I know him as well as one white man can know another, and I am 
seriously and earnestly convinced that the people of Mississippi will 
do themselves a lasting injustice if they should retire him from the 
Senate in the midst of the awful crisis in which we are now involved. 
When the bloody temptest has spent its force and the war 
cloud has cleared away under the sunshine of peace and God s mercy, 
critical and momentous questions will present themselves to the 
American people for adjustment. 

We will have another reconstruction period, possibly ot larger 
proportions, and more difficult of solution than the one we had after 

the civil war. . # 

Then we will need men of wisdom, men of experience, men of 

discretion, and especially men of clear conviction and strength of 

^^ifwiil be no day for weaklings, for opportunity mongers, and for 
trailers prancing about the country baying at the heels of their 
sup r ^ and esteeming it a proud privilege to take orders where 
Senatorial manhood should assert its independence and meet squarely 
its constitutional obligations without fear or favor. 

You can always trust a fearless and honest man, though he 



—232— 

might sometimes be wrong, because when he discovers his error, he 
will not hesitate to correct it, but you can never trust a coward, a 
hypocrite, or a political poltroon, because if he should chance to be 
right he will only be actuated by a selfish purpose, and will desert 
any cause to promote his own fortunes. 

Senaor Vardaman is just now reaching the highest degree of 
usefulness to his State and his country, and six years more in the 
United States Senate will more than double his capacity and his 
opportunity to render valuable and lasting service. 

Thei-e is not a man living today who voted against Senator 
George and denounced him in the harshest terms, who does no re- 
gret his action, and honors the menory of this great man; and so 
it will be with every good citizen who permits his prejudice to vote 
him against Senator Vardaman. 

It is earnestly hoped that the voters will avoid hasty conclusions 
based on the reports of unfriendly newspapers, and poorly informed 
corespondents. 

When we consider Senator Vordaman's past life and the record 
of his public service before entering the Senate, it is impossible to 
conceive of his pursuing the suicidal course that he is absurdly 
charged with, of disloyalty to his country. 

Every line of his public career, every fact in connection with 
his own history and that of his family gives emphatic denial of such 
a flimsy, unreasonable and ill-tempered allegation. 

I have absolute confidence in the deliberate judgment and prin- 
ciple of fair dealing that characterizes the people of Mississippi, 
that they will render him the opportunity of proving to their entire 
satisfaction that every discreditable charge lodged against him by his 
chronic enemies is absolutely and literally without a shadow of foun- 
dation in truth. 

(The above article was written in July, 1918, and pub- 
lished in The Issue. — Author.) 



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